From The Past
by Jayne Leigh
Summary: An exgirlfriend from Josh's past comes to Washington and she's not alone. Leo wants Josh to have nothing to do with her but will he agree? chapter 7. Please review!
1. visitor

**Hey, this is my first attempt at a West Wing series fic. I've still haven't managed to watch the whole series, I've just finished watching series 4. This is set during the 2****nd**** series after the 'Noel' episode. I'm sorry if there is any mistakes about the time line of the show. I hope you like it; please review and let me know! Thanks! **

**Enjoy!!!**

**From The Past**

_**1997**_

_Tears stung her eyes as she took her seat by the plane window but she refused to let them fall. This was her new start... She decided she was finished crying over her old life. She can actually pin point the day everything started to go wrong for her. It was the worst day of her life and it was the best day of her life... It was the day she met him. _

_They were both only 16 years old. She was starting a new school and he was the first friend she made. He made her laugh and helped her with her homework. He carried her books and took her to the movies. He gave her, her first real kiss... He was her first real love. _

_Her family didn't approve... He was Jewish... She was Catholic. She was banned from seeing him. Her father was an old fashioned man and he was determined that his youngest child and only daughter would do well at school and then marry a nice Catholic man. Her two older brothers were there to enforce their father's wishes. She would not date a Jew! So they dated in secret... It was the only way that they could be together._

_The night they graduated from high school, she had climbed out of her bedroom window to go meet him and was followed. She watched in horror as one of her brothers hit and kicked him, over and over again as he lay on the ground, defenceless whilst her other brother held her back. She couldn't believe it. She knew her brothers weren't angels, but she couldn't believe they were capable of something like that. _

_He nearly died because of her... Because of her family. It was a guilt she couldn't live with and when he was well enough to talk, she broke up with him. They were both going off to different colleges. She told him it would be the best thing for the both of them. Although it broke her heart doing so and she knew she broke his heart too. _

_That happened almost 16 years ago, and she hadn't seen him since she left his hospital room. That was until his Dad died. He came home for the funeral, she knew he would be there and tried to stay away but she just couldn't. She had to see him, even if it was from a distance. She no intention of speaking to him. She just wanted to see him. He saw her first and she was actually a little surprised at how happy he was to see her. He told her it had been a stressful day and was sick of everyone asking if he was okay. So, he suggested that they went and grabbed a drink to catch up. They talked about what they had been up to since high school and she told him after his attack, she stopped talking to her father and brothers. _

_He walked her home and she invited him in for coffee. He spent the night and then the next morning, she told him, he should go. He had a life in Washington, a good life that he loved. A life that didn't need complications. He reluctantly left, placing a soft kiss on her cheek and telling her to look him up if she was ever in Washington. _

_Now, it was 3 days later and she decided that she needed a fresh start. She closed her eyes as the plane made it's way down the runaway. This time tomorrow, she'd be in England, where she could start her new life. _

_**XxXxX**_

Leo made his way into the White House; he had just finished having lunch with Mallory. He loved his daughter with all his heart and wished he could spend more time with her, unless it was a day like today when all she talked about was Sam. He liked Sam... He was a good man but that doesn't mean he wants to hear all about his daughter's love life. There is only so much a father can take.

"Hey, Tommy... How's it going?" Leo said, as he passed through security.

"Good afternoon, Mr McGarry." Tommy looked up at him. "I'm just trying to get hold of Mr Lyman, but there doesn't seem to be anyone at his office right now."

"He had a meeting in the Oval office; he's probably still there..." Leo commented, reading a report in his hand and not bothering to look at the guard. "Was it important?"

"No, sir." Tommy placed the phone back down. "But there's a young woman here to see him."

"A young woman?" Leo repeated, but his attention was still on the paper he was holding.

"Yes, sir." Tommy nodded. "Her name is Leanne Matterson... She said she's a friend, but we can't let her through until she's given clearance."

"Well, keep up the good work, Tommy..." He commented, turning to walk away, but suddenly stopped and looked back at him. "Wait, did you say Leanne Matterson?"

"Yes, Sir."

"You're sure??"

"Sir." He gave him another nod.

"Okay, I'll deal with this." Leo mumbled, almost to himself. "Where is she?"

"Waiting in that room..." Tommy pointed across the corridor.

"Okay, okay..." Leo repeated. "Okay, don't worry about Josh. I'll let him know."

"Yes, sir."

"And don't say a word about this to anyone, okay?"

"No problem." Tommy agreed, he thought it was a little strange but then he knew better then to ask questions.

"Right, thank you." Leo said before heading over to the room that Josh's ex-girlfriend was waiting. The girl that had caused so much trouble when they were teenagers. The girl that actually used to be best friends with his own daughter.

He paused for a moment, trying to work out the best way to approach this. It wasn't that he disliked the girl; he actually used to like her a lot. It was just her family that he didn't like. He knew everything that happened between her and Josh was a long time ago and people change, but this was the last thing Josh needed. He was still recovering from the shooting. He was doing a lot better then he was before Christmas. Now that they knew how much he was really struggling with it, they were able to help. He didn't want Leanne Matterson walking back into his life and turning it upside down.

Leo pushed open the door and saw Leanne stand up quickly when he did.

"Hello, I'm Leo McGarry." He stated, holding his hand out across the table towards her.

"Yes, Sir...I remember..." She stuttered slightly, shaking his hand. "How are you?"

"I'm very good, thank you." He replied, taking a seat and gesturing for her to do the same. "And Yourself?"

"Uh, yeah... I'm okay." She nodded, nervously. "How's Mallory doing?"

"She's a teacher now." Leo informed her. "She's doing well."

"That's great." Leanne smiled. "She always did want to teach."

"Yep." Leo nodded, "Look, I'm going to get straight to the point, what are you doing here?"

"Uh, well... I wanted to see Josh..."

"He has a very busy schedule."

"Yeah, I understand that but..." She sighed, leaning her elbow on the table and rubbed her forehead. "I just want to see him."

Leo watched her for a moment, taking in her appearance. She hadn't changed much since the last time he saw her. Her golden brown hair was now straight instead of curly but that was about it.

She looked up at him. "I know you don't like me..."

"I never said I didn't like you."

"They why won't you let me see him?" She questioned.

"Because he's had enough to deal with already this year and he doesn't need any more trouble."

"Mr McGarry, I haven't come to cause trouble." She stated. "I promise you that… I… I heard about the shooting... I mean, it was all over the News... Even in England..."

"England?" Leo frowned slightly.

"Yeah, I moved there about 4 years ago." She told him. "Like I said, I heard about the shooting... I followed all the press about it just for any news on Josh... I had to come and make sure he was okay... I had to come and just see him."

"The shooting happened months ago."

"I know." She looked down.

"Why now?"

"I don't know... I was afraid to come before... I wanted to... I really did... I almost booked myself on the next flight out the night of the shooting... But... I couldn't..." She explained. "He has his life and I have mine... I didn't want to complicate things."

"What's changed?"

"Like I said, I needed to see him to make sure he was okay..."

"Well, he is okay...He's doing great." Leo told her.

"I need to see him...To talk him."

Leo sighed. "You're just going to drag up the past."

"Maybe the past needs dragging up." She whispered.

"No, it doesn't... Not this kind of past." Leo looked at her. "Everything is going okay for him at the moment... I'm not going to let you come back into his life and mess that up."

"I've already told you I have no intention of causing trouble... I but I owe it to Josh and I owe it to him." Her hand gestured down beside her.

Leo peered over the table, his mouth falling open a little when he saw a child fast asleep across the chairs next to her.

"This is my son... Mine and Josh's son." Leanne told him quietly.

"No..." Leo shook his head. "It can't be... He hasn't seen you since high school."

"Except for that week he came back..."

"For Noah's funeral..." Leo finished off, his voice quiet.

_**XxXxX**_

"Turtles have been on the earth for more than 200 million years. Did you know that? They evolved before mammals, birds, crocodiles, snakes, and even lizards..." Jed Bartlet informed Josh, Toby, C.J and Sam. "The earliest turtles had teeth and could not retract their heads, but other than this, modern turtles are very similar to their original ancestors."

Josh sighed and glanced at his watch. Their meeting had ended 10 minutes ago and The President had started talking about the history of turtles after telling them all about Sea Monkeys, which apparently he had received as a gift from his granddaughter.

"And they live on every continent except Antarctica..." He stated before stopping and looking at Josh. "Was there somewhere you needed to be, Josh?"

Josh searched his brain for an excuse to leave but he couldn't think of anything. Beside they had only just told the President that once their meeting was over, the four of them were heading out to get some lunch, which is probably why he started this lecture in the first place.

"No where important, sir." He replied, quietly earning himself a glare from both C.J and Toby for not getting them out of there.

"Great, now where was I?"

"They don't live in Antarctica..." Sam reminded him, the only one who seemed interested in this conversation. Now C.J and Toby moved their glares to him.

"Ah yes, they will live in almost any climate warm enough to allow them to complete their breeding cycle..."

"Fascinating..." Toby muttered, starting to pace slightly.

"You know, Toby, a little knowledge will get you far..." Jed started but was cut off by shouting outside the office.

"Is Josh still in there?!" They heard Leo yell at Charlie.

They all looked from the door to Josh, questionably. He started to panic slightly, his mind racing over everything he had done that morning that might get him into trouble.

"Sir, would it be inappropriate if I asked you if I could hide under your desk?" Josh questioned turning to him.

"You think, I'm going to help you after you didn't listen to my turtle lesson?"

The door flew open before Josh had a chance to answer or look for another hiding place and Leo stormed in with Charlie following.

"I'm going to start chaining you to your desk!" Leo exclaimed, pointing at Josh.

"Can I go now?" Toby looked at the President.

"Well, I think this is going to get interesting so you might want to stay." Jed retook his seat behind the desk and looked at Leo. "What's he done this time?"

"I haven't done anything!" Josh claimed innocently before adding. "That I'm aware of."

"Oh, God." C.J threw her hands in the air and turned to Sam. "Do you have anything to do with this?"

"I don't know what _this_ is!" Sam said defensively.

"Can you just tell him what's he's done and shout at him so I can go get some lunch?" Toby asked Leo.

"I haven't done anything." Josh sighed, he didn't like that they all assumed he was in the wrong, right away.

"The night of your father's funeral..." Leo started. "Where were you?"

"What?" He looked at him confused.

"You disappeared... You didn't turn up until the next morning...Where were you?"

"Leo, that was like 4 years ago." He pointed out.

"Josh?!"

"I went for a walk... My father had just died... I wanted to get my head straight." Josh replied. "What the hell is this about?"

"Promise me you didn't lie to me just then."

"Lie too you?" Josh repeated, completely confused about what was going on.

"What's going on?" C.J cut in, but Leo didn't look at her.

"Josh, promise me you weren't with her." He said quietly.

Josh opened his mouth to reply but closed it a second later and stayed silent.

"Damn it!" Leo exclaimed.

"Leo, look..." Josh started to explain.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"I don't know..." Josh shrugged. "But how do you know about this?"

"Okay, I was enjoying Josh getting a ticking off to begin with, but now I'm worried this is going to turn into a thing." Jed sat up straight in his chair and looked at his Chief Of Staff. "Leo?"

"It's not going to turn into a thing." Leo assured him.

"Seriously, Leo... How do you know about this?" Josh asked again. "There is no one else that knows... And if they did, why would they tell you now?"

"She was here."

"What?"

"Leanne was here."

"Who's Leanne?" Sam frowned slightly at the unfamiliar name.

"She just came by to see you." Leo continued.

"Here?" Josh stared at him. "She's here now?!"

"No, I sent her away."

"Leo?!" He exclaimed.

Toby sighed; he wasn't sure whether or not he should care about what was going on. If it was just another one of Josh's girlfriends then he didn't, but if it were going to effect the administration then he'd kick his ass for causing problems just when things were starting to go their way. He looked across at C.J, he could tell she was mentally running through every scenario in her head so she'd be able to work out what to tell the press. Sam had that confused look on his face. The one where he wasn't sure whether or not he should be concerned or annoyed.

"What did she want?" Josh asked.

"What?"

"Leanne... What did she want?"

"To see you."

"Then why didn't you tell me?!"

"Because you were having a meeting with The President of The United States!" Leo reminded him.

"He was lecturing us on sea monkeys and turtles!"

"I could make you write me an essay on it, if you're not careful." Jed told him.

"Yes, Sir... I'm sorry..." Josh took a deep breath before turning his attention back to Leo. "I know you don't like her..."

"I've never said I didn't like her!" He rolled his eyes, glancing around to see they were all watching curiously. "Let's go and sort this out in my office."

"What about us?" C.J asked.

"You don't need to be a part of this." Leo told them.

"But I want to be a part of this." She claimed.

"No you don't..." Josh muttered, walking towards the door leading to Leo's office; knowing he was probably going to get a lecture on why he should stay away from Leanne.

"Leo?" Jed called out before he had a chance to leave.

"Yeah?"

"Should I be concerned about this?"

"No, sir..." He shook his head. "It's personal."

"Yeah and I'm asking whether I should be concerned." Jed replied, knowing whether or not someone had a personal or work related problem, it could still hurt the administration.

"And I'm saying no."

"Okay." Jed nodded. "We'll talk about this later."

"Yes, sir." He agreed before disappearing into his office.

Jed sat silently for a moment, wondering what it all could be about. His attention was brought back to the other three senior members of staff as they argued about something in unusual hushed voices and then watched as they made their way over the door. He stared at them for a moment, whilst C.J and Sam pressed their ears against the door.

"I can't hear anything..." Sam stated.

"Get out of the way." Toby pushed him aside and took his place.

"Well?" Sam asked after a few seconds. "What do you hear?"

"I hear you." He turned and gave him a look.

"See, told you..." Sam started.

"Both of you shut up!" C.J glared at them.

"Excuse me." Jed cleared his throat.

"Sir?" Sam turned to face him.

"My eyes must be mistaking me." He started, standing up and walking around the desk. "It appears that my senior staff are trying to listen into a conversation between the white house chief of staff and his deputy from the oval office."

All three of them quickly took a step away from the door.

"It was Toby's idea." Sam said quickly.

"It's things like this why the kids didn't like you at school." Toby told him.

"Hey. I was popular!"

"Okay, Sam..." C.J patted his arm patronizingly.

"I was!"

"Get out." Jed rolled his eyes, sighing as they left arguing.

He waited for a moment, glancing at the door seeing that they had closed it behind him. He then picked up an empty glass and made his way over to Leo's door.

"What are you doing, Mr President?"

He jumped away from the door quickly and spun around to see Mrs Landingham stood by the door.

"I was uh... I was just going to get some water from Leo's office." He claimed, holding up the empty glass.

"There's a pitcher of water on your desk, sir..." She gestured to it.

"Uh, well yes..." He stuttered.

"Mr President, you wouldn't be trying to eavesdrop on what's going on in Leo's office, would you?"

Jed looked at her for a moment before down at the glass in his hand.

"Damn it, Mrs Landingham, I'm the President of The United States!" He exclaimed, resisting the urge to pout and stamp his foot; she always spoils his fun.

"Yes, Sir and the President of The United States should act in a mature manner and set an example."

"Well then, I'm just going to go over to my desk and pour myself a nice glass of water."

"Very well, Sir..." She replied, watching as he crossed the room before leaving.

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!! **


	2. No Time For This

**Hi! Thank you all so much for the reviews! I'm glad you liked the start!! This is set during the 2nd** **series after the 'Noel' episode. I'm sorry if there is any mistakes about the time line of the show. I hope you like it; please review and let me know! Thanks!**

**Enjoy**

**From The Past**

**No Time For This: **

Leo looked down at Josh who was sat on the couch in his office. He silently watched him as he tried to take in the information he had just been told. Leo had explained the reason that Leanne had turned up was because she wanted to see for herself that he was okay after the shooting. It wasn't until he said that she wasn't alone, that a child was with her, a child that she was claiming was his.

"You're serious?" Josh looked up at him.

Leo shrugged. "She could be lying...About the kid."

"You think?" He whispered, not knowing what to think. His head was spinning.

"Well, it's not unheard of, is it?" Leo stated, taking a seat opposite him. "She could make a lot of money selling a story about this... About you."

"She wouldn't do that." Josh shook his head but Leo just looked at him. "She wouldn't... I know her!"

"Josh, aside from that one night 4 years go, you haven't seen her since high school." Leo reminded him. "People change."

"Leo..."

"She was a nice girl... But she's grown up..." He continued. "You could be right... She might have just wanted to see you... For you to meet your son... But you've also got to be prepared for the possibility that she's not the same person that she was before."

Josh sank back against the couch, deep in thought.

"She lives in England now, Josh." Leo told him softly. "Don't go doing anything crazy and getting yourself hurt, okay?"

"Yeah." He mumbled in reply.

_**XxXxX**_

"Hey." Sam appeared from a room as Josh walked past. "What was all that about?"

Josh gave him a sidewards glance as they walked. "What?"

"The thing with Leo."

"It's nothing."

"It didn't seem like nothing." Sam continued to follow him but noticed they weren't heading back to his office. "Where are we going?"

"I've got to go and meet someone." Josh told him.

"I thought we were all going to lunch."

"Something has come up."

"Need me to come?" He offered.

"No."

"Please."

Josh paused and looked at him curiously. "What's going on?"

"I don't want to go back to my office."

"Why not?"

"C.J and Toby made me come and find you."

"And you found me... Job well done." He started to walk again.

Sam continued to look at the place that Josh had just been standing before turning and jogging to catch up with him.

"I'm meant to bring you back with me too."

"Just tell them I had to meet a friend."

"They're not going to accept that." He shook his head.

"I don't care."

"I do! They think there's something big happening and they think I'm involved."

"Tell them you're not."

"Oh, yes because I haven't thought of that already." He replied sarcastically.

Josh stopped again, sighing. "Sam, what do you want from me?"

"I want to know what's going on..."

"It's nothing."

"Josh?!"

"Sam, just go back to work...Tell C.J and Toby what you like." He walked off again and this time Sam didn't follow him.

_**XxXxX**_

Josh knocked on the door and waited for it to open, shifting from one foot to the other, nervously. Leanne had given Leo the address where they were staying at her cousin's friend's apartment.

Even though Leo wasn't happy about Leanne's visit, he understood that Josh needed to talk to her and find out what exactly was going on but he also told him to be very careful and not to make any decisions straight away.

Josh was just about to knock again when the door opened and a woman he didn't recognise appeared.

"Can I help you?"

"Uh, I hope so...I'm looking for Leanne Matterson."

The woman looked at him for a moment. "Are you Josh?"

"Um, yeah..."

She nodded slightly before stepping aside. "Come on in."

"Thanks."

"I'm Tina, I'm a friend of Leanne's."

"Nice to meet you." He gave her a polite smile.

"I'll just go and get her." Tina told him, take a seat.

Josh watched her leave the room before moving over to the couch and sitting down. It was a few minutes until Leanne appeared and Josh shot straight to his feet. They stared at each other for what seemed like hours, neither of them knew what to say.

"I didn't think you'd come." She broke the silence.

"What the hell is going on, Leanne?" He asked, quietly. "You turn up at my work with some kid..."

"Let's sit down first." She took a seat and watched him for a moment before he sat down opposite her. "I'm sorry I didn't call first to let you know I was coming..."

"Yeah because that's what surprised me..." He said sarcastically.

"I'm guessing Mr McGarry told you about our conversation."

"You still haven't told me what's going on." He leaned forwards, resting his arms on the tops of his legs.

"You have a son, Josh." She looked right into his eyes. "He's three years old...Almost four...And he's in the room next door..."

Josh stared at her. Leo had told him this back in the office and hearing it the second time from her mouth, he was still shocked.

"Everyday I look at him and I see you..." She continued when he didn't speak. "I can see you in ever little bit of him..."

Josh rose to his feet again and started to pace a little.

"I know this is a lot to take in..."

"He's three?!" He exclaimed. "You never thought to mention this to me?!"

"By the time I found out I was pregnant, I was already in England." She stood up to.

"A country where there are no means of communication!" He threw his arms in the air dramatically and rolled his eyes.

"You had a life here! A good job that you loved! I didn't want to mess that up for you!"

He let out a small laugh and shook his head, turning away from her.

Leanne sighed in defeat and dropped back into her seat. She silently watched as he continued to pace a little, deep in thought.

"Do you want to meet him?" She asked, quietly.

"What?" He spun around to face her.

"He's in the next room playing with his cars... I can go and get him..." She went to stand again but he stopped her.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Disappointment washed over her face. "Oh."

"I just... I can't be..." He stuttered to find the right words. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"I'm sorry?" She stared at him.

"I haven't seen you in four years and that was just one night..." He pointed out. "How do I know you're telling the truth?"

"You want a test done?" She asked.

He shrugged silently and looked down at the floor. He didn't like what he was accusing her of but Leo was right; people change.

"I didn't come here to cause you any trouble, Josh..." She whispered, tears burning in her eyes but she refused to let them fall. "I just thought... I thought it would be the right time...After everything that has happened...I just wanted him to say one day... I met my Dad... We went to America and I met my Dad...but I understand if that's not going to work for you."

"You can't just turn up and expect me to just go along with this!" He stated.

"I didn't expect anything." She claimed, refusing to look at him.

"I should go."

"Yeah."

He sighed but then paused in the doorway.

"What's his name?"

She looked up and saw his back was to her. "Jackson."

"Okay."

"Jackson Joshua Lyman is his full name." She added quickly.

He looked back at her briefly before leaving.

_XxXxX_

"You and Sam bugged me all morning about the four of us getting out of here to get some lunch...Like the old days during the campaign..." Toby walked along aside Josh as he made his way to his office, just getting back from seeing Leanne. "And you do a disappearing act."

"Hey, you're back." Sam joined them.

"You going to tell us what's going on?" Toby asked but Josh still stayed silent. "Josh?!"

Josh walked into his office, closing the door behind him, almost causing Toby to walk into it as he tried to follow.

"Is everything okay?" Donna asked, concerned.

"Uh, I think he's a little upset..." Sam stated.

"Who is?" C.J asked, walking over to them.

"Josh."

"He's back?" She questioned, looking at his closed office door. "What happened?"

'He nearly just took my head off slamming the door!" Toby exclaimed.

"Well, that's a bit of an exaggeration..." Sam looked at him.

"What did you do to him?" C.J asked Toby.

"I didn't do anything!"

"What did you do to him?" She turned to Sam.

"Why would it be me?"

"Well, it wasn't me!" C.J claimed.

"Why does it have to be any of you?" Donna cut in.

"Good point." Sam nodded.

"Whatever, just get in there and fix it." She pushed him towards the door.

"No, let me..." Donna stopped Sam. "If you have done something, you'll just anger him more."

"I haven't done anything! I bet it has something to do with the woman Leo was talking about earlier." Sam said as Donna carefully entered Josh's office.

"If she's a call girl, I'm going to kill you." Toby told him.

"Okay, shall I just go and confess to the President now and you can just tell me what crime I've committed later?"

"So you're admitting you did commit a crime?" C.J looked at him.

"I'm just going to sit over here." He pointed to Donna's desk before taking a seat.

They waited in silence for a couple of minutes before Donna left the office.

"Well?" C.J asked.

"He said he wants to be left alone."

"Why?"

"He wouldn't say...He seems quite upset though." Donna told them. "Maybe, we should just do as he asked."

"Yeah, like that's going to happen." Toby said sarcastically walking towards the door.

"Toby." Donna blocked his path.

"What's going on here?" Leo asked, joining the group.

"Josh is hiding in his office." Toby turned to glance at him. "Donna won't let us in."

"What has he said?" Leo questioned.

"Not a lot." Donna shrugged. "He just said he wanted some time alone."

Leo nodded slightly, taking in the information. "Can you let him know I want to talk to him?"

Donna turned towards the office again but then paused and looked back at him. "Am I telling him he has to talk to you or asking him if he wants to talk to you?"

Leo thought about it for a moment, deciding it probably was not the time to be pushing Josh. "Ask him."

Donna nodded and entered the office.

"What's going on?" Toby asked Leo.

"Nothing."

"Leo..."

"Toby, it's nothing."

They all turned when Donna came back out. "He said he'll come by and see you later."

Leo sighed, he wanted to walk in there and ask him what the hell happened with Leanne but knew it probably wouldn't do any good.

"Okay, everyone I'm sure you have work to do..." Leo looked at them but no one moved. "So, y'know... get back to work!"

"What about Josh?" C.J asked.

"He'll be okay." Leo told them, taking the seat that Sam just vacated. "I'm just going to wait here for a little while."

Donna wasn't sure whether she should point out that he was actually sitting at her desk but before anyone could say or do anything Josh's door swung open.

He looked a little surprised to see Leo sat down at Donna's desk. "You knew I was going to change my mind and come talk to you, didn't you?"

"Yeah."

"You know it freaks me out when you know what I'm going to do before I know."

"Well, it freaks me out when I don't know." Leo replied.

Josh sighed, opening the door fully and stepping aside, silently inviting him in.

The others watched curiously as Leo entered the office.

"Josh..." Sam started.

"You guys really should get some work done." He mumbled before closing the door again.

"Well, I'm going to go and write up some statements." Toby said.

"What for?" Sam frowned a little.

"For whatever is going on in there." He pointed to Josh's office. "I've got a feeling this is going to be big."

"How will you know what to write about?" Donna asked, confused.

"I'll write about every problem possible." He claimed before walking away.

"He's joking right?" Donna looked at C.J and Sam.

"Of course he is..." C.J told her, following Toby then glanced back at her. "He'll make Sam do at least half of them."

Sam stood, looking at the door that Toby and C.J had just walked through, then to Josh's office before back at Donna. "This day sucks!"

Leo leaned back in his chair, watching as Josh moved around the desk to his own chair. "So, what happened?"

"Not a lot." He sighed, dropping down into the chair.

"I'm guessing you went to see her."

"Yeah."

"And?" Leo prompted when Josh didn't continue.

"And she told me that I had a 3 year old son." Josh looked up at him. "She said she didn't want to cause trouble, she just wanted him to meet me."

"Did you?"

"Meet him? No."

"Why not?"

"Because... I... Because... God, I don't know..." He ran his hands over his face. "I can't have a son!"

"Josh..."

"I'm the Deputy Chief of Staff to the president of The United States!" He stood up and paced in the small space behind his desk. "I haven't got time to be a father!"

"I think you need to calm down a little..." Leo tried to cut in.

"I mean, she's living in England! England! There's like an ocean between us! How is this going to work?" He questioned, but didn't wait for Leo to answer. "How the hell can she think this could work!?"

"Josh, are you sure this kid is yours?"

Josh stopped his rant and turned to look at his boss.

"You can't just go on her word..." He continued.

"His last name is Lyman." He said quietly.

"Josh." Leo sighed.

"Jackson Joshua Lyman..." He informed him. "What if he is my son, Leo...What am I meant to do?"

"I don't know, Josh...What do you want to do?"

He shrugged and sat back down, deep in thought.

"First thing you need to do, is decide whether you actually want to be a part of this child life... Because if you don't then you need to stay away..." Leo told him. "And if you do... Then you need to get a test done before you make a connection with him."

"I guess..." He said quietly.

"Sleep on it..." Leo advised. "Its not a decision you can decide in 5 minutes."

"Yeah..." He agreed, rubbing his eyes. "Yeah, okay."

"Well, I should go... Try and get some work done but don't stay late." Leo told him, making his way to the door.

"Okay...Leo? Thanks."

He glanced back at him. "No problem."

Leo couldn't help but feel a little guilty as he made his way back to his own office. He had seen the boy and it was looking back 30 years to when Josh was that age. He knew that he should probably be telling Josh to go and get to know his son, but he just couldn't see how all of this had a happy ending. There was a reason that Josh and Leanne broke up all those years ago and as far as Leo was concerned, those reasons were still a threat. She might have nothing more to do with her family now but they would still hold a grudge against Josh for what happened. Leo was just worried that if Josh let Leanne back into his life, he'd become a target to it again. So much had already happened this year, and he didn't know how much more Josh could take.

_**XxXxX**_

"Hey." Josh appeared in the doorway to Toby's office. "What you working on?"

"Just some statements..." Toby replied not looking up at him.

"When you're finished do you want to come and get drunk?" Josh asked.

This got Toby's attention. "I'm done."

"What about the statements?"

"They can wait." He grabbed his coat.

"What are they for?"

"Well, since you wouldn't tell us what's going on, we decided to prepare for the worst." Toby replied. "I've already written one for if the woman is married and you're having an affair... I'm working on one now for if you accidentally ran over her Grandmother or something..."

Josh stared at him for a moment before picking up the paper he had been writing on. "Oh my, God, you're serious!"

"Sam's writing one for if she's your long lost Mother..."

Josh leaned back against the wall and rubbed his eyes. "Can this day get any weirder?"

"Hey..." Sam walked into the office, holding a bit of paper. "I'm done with this."

"You guys have way too much time on your hands." Josh stated.

"Do you want to tell us the real reason?" Sam asked.

"No." Toby said before Josh could answer.

"No?" Sam frowned looking at him.

"It can wait..."

"Toby, you've been saying all day about how we need to..." Sam started confused.

"Sam, shut up... We're wasting time." Toby walked past the two of them.

"Wasting what time?" Sam asked, following the pair off them and watched as Toby entered his own office and taking his coat before throwing it at him.

"Drinking time." Josh informed him.

"Drinking time?" He repeated as he put on his coat.

"What the hell are you doing? Impersonating a parrot?" Toby said in frustration. "Lets go get drunk!!!"

"Uh, okay..." Sam agreed even though he was even more confused then he was before.

"C.J!!!" Toby shouted as they walked towards her office.

She appeared in her doorway and glared at them. "What?!"

"Get your coat."

"Where we going?" She asked.

"We're going to get drunk..." Sam answered before adding. "Apparently."

"What?"

"We're going to have a few drinks to make up for missing the lunch." Josh explained. "Are you coming or not?"

"Okay, fine but only because someone needs to keep an eye on you three." She claimed, grabbing her jacket and her bag before following them out of the building.

_**XxXxX**_

They had been at the bar for an hour now and Josh had hardly said a word to anyone. Charlie had run into them as they were leaving the White House and decided to tag along and Donna had just turned up too.

"What do you think is wrong with him?" Sam asked them as they all stood at one end of the bar, watching Josh who was sat at the other, staring into a glass of scotch.

"I don't know..." Donna replied. "He wouldn't tell me..."

"It must be bad if he's ordering scotch." Sam claimed.

"I didn't even know he liked scotch." C.J commented.

"Maybe he doesn't... He hasn't drunk any yet..." Charlie pointed out. "He's been staring at it for the past hour."

"He'd be a bad alcoholic..." Toby concluded.

C.J gave Toby a look before turning back to look at Josh. "You think this Leanne girl, is an ex-girlfriend or something?"

"Probably." Sam shrugged.

"Maybe I should talk to him then."

"You?" Toby raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, he could do with a little womanly advice."

"Womanly?" He repeated. "Maybe Donna should talk to him."

"Don't make me kick your ass in public." She warned to which Toby held his hands up in mock surrender.

They slowly moved down the bar, getting close enough to be able to hear what C.J was saying to Josh.

"So, what's wrong Romeo?" C.J asked, sitting on the stall next to him.

"Romeo?" He asked, glancing at her.

"You're having woman trouble...I'm here to help."

"Thanks but I'm fine." He looked back into the glass.

"You can tell me anything, you know..." She continued. "Is she married?"

"C.J..." He sighed loudly.

"Because the press might ask some questions about it, but it'll blow over..."

"Oh, leave the man alone." Toby interrupted.

"Excuse me, we're having a private conversation here... He needs advice."

"He needs to do what every man does... Get drunk." Toby claimed.

"How is that productive?" C.J started.

"Josh?"

He turned quickly and saw Leanne stood behind him.

"Hi." She said quietly.

"Hi." He replied, shortly then turned away from her again.

C.J stepped back to the others, as they all watched closely.

"Someone at your office said I'd be able to find you here..." She explained. "I just… I just wanted to say I'm sorry... Sorry that I turned up like I did... I didn't mean to cause you any trouble."

"Yeah, you've said that already..." He muttered, still refusing to face her.

"You think this is easy for me?" She asked. "You think I enjoy this?! God, Josh...You have no idea what its been like for me! I've had no one for such a long time..."

"Yeah, well you were the one that broke up with me." He stated, bring his glass to his lips and swallowed the scotch down, then signalled to the barman for another one.

"Yeah, I remember..." She replied. "But I had no choice... You know that.. Everyone said it was the right thing to do and it was the right thing to do...You think you're life would have turned out like this if we had stayed together?"

He remained silent, staring in to his now refilled glass.

"Josh, you have an amazing life... One that you love and that you deserve... I'd never want to do anything to ruin it... But that doesn't mean that not being able to be a part of if doesn't hurt... Because it does!" She stated, still talking to his back but she didn't stop.

"I thought going off to college alone and gowning up would change things... That it would make me stop thinking about you, but I made the mistake of going back afterwards... I heard all these stories about how well you were doing... How Noah and Maria's boy was doing wonders in Washington... And it just got worse when you started working on The Bartlet for President campaign... I mean, this guy was barely known... And then all of a sudden, Joshua Lyman ditches Hoynes for him... And I know you weren't the only one... And I'm not so completely blind with love to believe that you got that man elected all on your own... But the people that knew you knew how much you like to win... And then you switch campaigns just like that and it got people's attention. Why would Josh Lyman, quit working for a campaign that was bound to win for some guy that was barely known??"

She paused for a moment, giving him a chance to comment but he didn't.

"You think all of that could have happened if we were together?" She whispered. "We would be back home in Connecticut...You'd be bored out of your mind working for some Law firm... And you'd resent me for it."

"I'd never resent you." He mumbled.

"Maybe not... But I'd resent me... I'd resent me for holding you back..." She shook her head, getting a little emotional again. "I'm sorry, Josh... I really am... I never ever wanted it to be like this..."

"Lee, when did it get this crazy?" He stood up and turned to face her.

She smiled slightly, reaching out and gently brushing her fingertips over his hand. "The day you offered to carry my books to science."

She took a step towards him, pressing her lips against his cheek softly and as she pulled back, she slipped a photograph into his hand. "I'm booked on a flight back to England in 4 hours... I'll be gone and you can get back to what you're best at..."

"Lee..."

She shook her head to cut him off, closing her eyes as she tried to gain control of her emotions. "Bye, Josh..."

He stared at her as she walked away and then looked down to what she had handed him. His hand shook a little and he brushed his thumb over the picture of Leanne sat holding a newborn baby closely to her.

"Josh?" Sam asked softly, stepping towards him. "Are you okay?"

Josh shoved the photo into his pocket quickly before Sam saw what it was.

"Josh?" He repeated.

Josh still didn't reply, instead he turned back to the bar, drank his scotch in one mouthful before rushing out of the bar.

"Well, I'm more confused now then when this day started." Sam declared looking back at the others.

"Like a normal day then?" Toby quipped, already losing interesting in whatever disaster problem Josh's love life was having.

Sam opened his mouth to reply but then sighed and sunk back down into his chair. "Pretty, much yeah..."

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!!! **


	3. Needing More

**Hey, thank you all for your reviews! Please keep them coming! I love them all! Here's the next chapter! My beta has gone on holiday so all this mistakes are my own. Sorry for any! I hope you like this!! Please let me know!! **

**Enjoy!!! **

**From The Past**

**Needing More:**

"Leanne..." Josh called as he ran after her. "Wait."

"Josh, go back..." She sighed, stopping but didn't turn around.

"We need to talk."

"No, you need to go back and live your life."

"No! You can't do this!" He told her. "You can't just walk away!"

"It's for the best..."

"You can't just walk away!" He repeated, taking her arm around turning her around to face him. "Come back to my place."

"Josh..."

"You owe me." He claimed. "Just an hour. One cup of coffee."

"I've got a plane to catch..." She started, glancing down at her watch.

"In 4 hours." He stated. "I'm asking for just one."

She sighed quietly. "Fine, one coffee."

"Thank you." He whispered, giving her a small smile.

They walked along side by side in silence as he lead her the short distance to his apartment. He was a little nervous about what the result be of the conversation. He still wasn't completely sure what he wanted. He just hoped whatever they agreed on, he wouldn't regret later.

"This is a nice place." She commented as they stepped into the apartment.

"Yeah..." He took a quick glance around, seeing a few of his possessions scattered around wishing he had chance to tidy before she came around.

"Not as messy as I thought it would be." She joked, noticing him looking around.

He couldn't help but smiled. "Yeah, well I don't spend a lot of time here."

"I can tell..." She replied. "I remember how bad your bedroom used to be."

"I used to clean it."

"Only when your Mom threatened to take your car away and when I refused to clean it for you."

"Yeah, great girlfriend you were." He countered teasingly.

"I was just trying to prepare you for life on your own, Joshua..." She stated, patting him on the cheek gently.

He let out a small laugh. Over the years of being apart, he had forgotten how easy and natural it was to be around her. She was never one for talking or debating politics like he was, even when he was High School but then that was something that always amazed him. She was the complete opposite to him and they had hardly anything in common, yet he always wanted to spend all his free time with her.

He shook his head slightly, trying to remove the thoughts from his head. He couldn't let his feeling for her in the past, cloud his judgement on the situation they needed to deal with.

"Why don't you take a seat and I'll put on that coffee."

"Okay." She smiled at him as she moved over to the couch.

Josh walked into the kitchen and started to make the coffee. He rubbed his eyes and thought over his options. He could be apart of this child's life...He could be a father or he could just let Leanne get on that plane and head back to England. Leo was right, at the moment there was no proof that this kid was actually his but Josh saw no reason why Leanne would lie to him. Sure, if it was happening to Toby or Sam, he'd be able to understand but he knew Leanne. He knew her better then anyone. She's not the kind of person to do that. He started to wonder what would happen between them if he became apart of Jackson's life. It felt like he had butterflies in his stomach and his heart raced a little whenever he looked at her but how can he be sure they were genuine feelings and not just past feelings. Even so, they owed it to themselves to find out because they had lost each other once before and maybe this time, it would actually work out for the best.

His train of thoughts were broken by the sound of his cell phone. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw Sam's name flash on the caller's ID. He cut the call off and put it away again, knowing Sam would leave a message if it was urgent.

He carried two cups of the coffee into the living room and took a seat next to her as he sat down.

"So..." He started.

She turned to face him. "I'll understand that you can't have a child...Your job..."

He shook his head slightly. "My job is my life but it's just a job..."

"Josh..."

"I love my job, I'm not going to quit but I don't want it to stop me from having a life outside of work." He stated.

"What are you saying?" She questioned.

"Jackson...He's my son?" He asked.

"Yes, I promise you...I wouldn't lie to you about this." She insisted.

"Then...then I should be apart of his life..." He claimed but continue when she want to say something. "I know things are a little complicated...I mean, you live in a different country and I wouldn't ask you to give up your life there... But he's my son...and I should be apart of his life...Even if its just by helping out with money."

"I don't want your money." She told him.

"Even so...I'd like to." 

She nodded slightly and looked at her hands. "If that's what you want."

"Yeah." He replied and they reminded silent for a while before Josh spoke again. "Does he know about me?"

She looked up at him again. "I told him a little about you."

"Really?" 

"Yeah, I said you live here in America... I told him your funny and you have a good heart..."

"Does he hate me?" He cut in.

"What?"

"Does he hate me?"

"No, Josh he's three years old...He barely knows what the word means." She told him. "Why would he hate you?"

"Because I'm his father and I'm not around..."

She sighed and took his hand. "That's not your fault..."

"But..." 

"No, Josh believe me...He doesn't hate you... He doesn't really understand... All he has known is it being just me and him... He asked a few questions about why some of his friends had Dads and he didn't but he also had friends who have only one parent." She explained. "I told him that you live here and that's why you weren't around... He accepted that for now and I was going to explain when he was older the real reason you wasn't around."

He nodded quietly, deep in thought before turning to her again. "Do you want me to be apart of his life?"

"Of course I do, Josh..." She replied. "He's so like you, it's a little scary but he would idolise you."

"I can be apart of his life." He claimed. "I mean, I can write him letters and stuff...talk of the phone...you guys can visit all the time...And there are times when we have to go to Europe and I can visit you.."

"Josh..."

"We can make this work." 

"I know we can." She assured him. "But are you sure you want this?"

"Of course..."

"Because this is a child, Josh...you...you can't just let him down when the timing is not right...You need be a father first..."

"Lee..." 

"I'm not saying you'd make a bad father...I think you'd be terrific, I always have ... but it's not easy."

"I know that." He replied quietly. "And I want to do this..."

"You're sure?"

"Yes."

"One hundred percent?"

"Yes!" He repeated. "I'll prove it."

"What you doing?" She asked, watching as he played around with his cell phone.

"I'm setting an alarm to go off at 2am."

"Why?" She frowned.

"Because it'll be 8am over in England and it'll remind me that I have to call him..." He told her.

"You're going to call everyday at 8am?" She looked sceptically at him.

"Well, I'm more likely to be less busy at that time." He shrugged.

"But will you be awake?"

"I don't think I've been asleep before 3am since Bartlet became President." He joked

She smiled slightly but only for a second.

"What?" He questioned. "If you think this is a bad idea... I know its not the biggest gesture ever but..."

"No, no...I think it's great that you want to do this." He told him. "But...it's just..."

"Just what?"

"Won't it cause trouble for you?" She asked. "I mean, if the press find out..."

"Who cares?"

"Your boss for one..."

"I'll explain..."

"And he'd understand?"

"He's a good man." Josh nodded.

"Okay but what about the press?"

"We don't comment on personal lives."

"Josh."

"Look, this sort of things comes up a lot..." He started but noticed the look she gave him and get out a small laugh. "Okay maybe not this _sort of _thing but we all have personal lives...we all have stuff that we're not exactly comfortable with the world finding out but when they do, it lasts for a few days and then something else happens."

"But..."

"We can deal with it."

"Are you sure?" She asked. "Because I really don't know, Josh...I haven't been in the USA for a long time and I don't know a lot about politics...I'd be completely trusting you on this."

He nodded. "Then trust me."

"I was thinking of moving." She said suddenly.

"What?"

"I was fired from my job when I told them I had to come here." She informed him. "I've got a few good friends over there...but...but nothing else... I could move back... here."

"Here?" He repeated.

"I don't know, maybe not Washington..." She said slowly. "But maybe in America...that would be easier..."

"Yeah..." He replied quietly, thinking of it. "Not Washington?"

"I don't know...I'd have to look around for a place to live and a job..." She started to make a list.

"But...but you'll think about it?" He asked. "And you'd be okay with being so close to me?"

"Josh, it would be the only reason to do so..." She told him softly. "I haven't got much of a life and I can easily pick up and start somewhere new if it meant that Jackson gets to know his father..."

"Really?"

"Yes, Josh, really..."

"What about your family?"

She looked down at her hands. "I told you 4 years ago...I don't have anything to do with them."

"Yeah, I think that's going to make them a little bit more pissed off at me." He stated.

"My father's dead." She looked up at him. "Last year...He had a stroke."

"I'm sorry..." He reached out and took her hand gently.

"I'm not."

"Lee..."

"I hate him for what he did to you...to us." She claimed. "I could never forgive him for that."

"Yeah but he's still your father.."

"But he isn't my Dad." She shook her head. "The guy that was my Dad, brought me ice cream when he felt ill and used to take me ice skating at Christmas time...I miss that guy...Not the guy he turned into...Not my father."

He didn't know how to reply to that and instead put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her closer to him.

"I'm sorry..." She mumbled.

"Don't worry about it." He replied, kissing the top of her head before they continued to sit in silence.

_**XxXxX**_

"You're late."

Josh looked up at C.J stood in his doorway, trying to tie his tie whilst quickly scanning the folder Donna had just handed to him about the meeting he was going to.

"By 5 minutes." He said defensively. "And I still got another 5 minutes to get to my meeting."

"And prepare for it?"

"Go away."

"I came to see if you're okay." She claimed.

"I'm fine."

"Josh, you abandoned us at the bar last night."

"Abandoned you? What are you, five years old or something?" He said gathering what he needed for his meeting. "I got to go."

"Who was she?"

"C.J..." He sighed, walking out the office as she followed closed behind.

"She must be special..." She started.

"I really haven't got time for this."

"I'm just saying that if..."

"She's just a friend... We talked about old times and caught up on things." He told her, stopping to face her. "Are you done with inquisition now? Can I get to work?"

"We'll talk later." She stated, walking off in the other direction.

"I'll look forward to it." He muttered before continuing to walk.

_**XxXxX**_

"The press will notice..." Toby claimed as he stood with C.J outside the oval office.

"I think they have more important things to write about." She rolled her eyes.

"Not if he screws up."

"Toby..."

"Hey, what's going on?" Sam asked, joining them.

"We're waiting."

"For?" 

"The leader of the free world." C.J gestured to the empty office.

"Gotcha."

"We're also talking about Josh."

"Why? What's he done?"

"You know, I don't think it's necessarily a good thing that every time he gets mentioned, someone always asks what's he done wrong." C.J commented.

"Yeah, well this is Josh...So you're going to have to get use to it." Toby told her before looking at Sam. "Who was that woman?"

Sam turned around and looked behind him but saw no one there. "What woman?"

Toby rolled his eyes. "At the bar last night."

"Oh her." Sam nodded before shaking his head. "I don't know."

"Sam?!"

"Honestly, I have no idea." He shrugged. "I didn't know he was even dating anyone."

"He's actually dating her?!"

"Toby, calm down..." C.J told him.

"He can't!"

"Why not?" Sam questioned. "What do you know that I don't?" 

"I don't know anything, that's the problem!"

"Is she married?" Sam asked. "Or a murder..."

"Sam..."

"Because I don't think it would be good for Josh to date a married murder..." Sam continued, in a mocking voice.

"Sam, shut up."

"You're freaking out because you don't anything about her?" Sam inquired.

"Apparently so." C.J nodded.

"Well, it's a good thing you're not dating her."

"Who are you dating?" President Bartlet asked, as he walked past them and into his office with Charlie and Leo behind him.

"No one, Sir." Toby replied as they followed them inside.

"Maybe that's the real problem." Sam concluded looking at C.J.

"Ah, jealousy." C.J agreed.

"Y'know Toby, I have this friend..." Sam started.

"I'll kill you with my pen..." Toby cut him off, warningly.

"Toby, what have I told you about threatening to kill people in my Oval office." Bartlet said, taking his seat.

"You told him not to do it, Sir." Sam answered.

"Right..." Bartlet nodded.

"Can we just get on with this?" Leo interrupted.

"Well, I was a little interested in Toby's love life but I guess that can wait until we've finished running the country..." Bartlet replied.

"Not Toby's love life, Sir...Josh's." C.J corrected.

"Ah, then I'm not interested...He's not even here." He waved his hand dismissively.

"He's in a meeting about the tax cuts, Mr President." Sam pointed out but knew that Bartlet was joking around.

"Oh, that's right." He nodded.

"Is anyone else worried about this?" Toby asked.

"Why? It's not one of my daughters, is it?"

"No, sir."

"Then I'm not worried."

"He was five minutes late." Toby informed him.

"I'll give him a detention..."

"Sir, Josh has never been late before..."

"That's not true..." Sam tried to cut in.

"This girl is already distracting him."

Bartlet sighed and took off his glass, glancing at Leo. "You're very quiet over there."

"Sir, I think Toby overreacting..." Sam commented.

"I agree." C.J added. "Josh said she was a friend and they just talked about old times."

"Leo?" He looked at his chief of staff for his opinion. "Is she going to be a problem?"

Leo was quiet for a moment, wishing he had chance to talk to Josh to see what he had decided.

"There's a chance it could be." He said slowly, not wanting to say to much.

"How so?"

"I'd rather not answer that right now, Sir."

"Leo..." 

"Sir, it might be a problem...It might not..." He shook his head. "I'll sort this."

"Make sure you do.." He told him before turning to the others. "Right, now my good mood has completely vanished...What's next?"

_**XxXxX**_

"Is Toby mad at me for something? He keeps glaring at me." Josh asked Donna as he approach her desk.

"Why? Did you do something that would make him mad?" She questioned.

"Probably." He shrugged.

"Leo wants to see you right away." She told him.

"Oh, I definitely did something."

"What?" 

"I'll tell you once I've found out." He replied before heading towards Leo's office.

"You can go straight in." Margaret looked up from her computer when he reached her desk. "He's waiting for you."

"Uh, thanks." He replied, slowly wondering whether this was going to be a good meeting for a bad meeting but he had a pretty good idea what it was about.

"You wanted to see me?"

Leo looked up from what he was writing . "Yeah,take a seat."

"I think we're really starting to get somewhere with these tax cuts." Josh informed him, sitting down.

"Great." Leo replied. "But that's not what I wanted to talk about."

"Okay..."

"I've been hearing some things..."

"Maybe you should see a professional..." He cut in, jokingly.

"Josh..." Leo said in a tone of voice letting him now he was trying to be serious.

"What sort of things?" He asked.

"About you being late.."

"God, Leo...it was 5 minutes... Beside I'm normally here early every day plus I stay late as well..."

"I know...I know." He held up his hand to stop Josh from continuing. "I'm just saying it's unlike you... And people noticed and are saying it because of the mystery girl you went off with last night."

"You would have thought that working for the President they would have better things to do with their time then gossiping."

"Josh."

"She turned up at the bar...She told me she was sorry for everything and that she was leaving..." Josh claimed. "What was I meant to do? Let her walk away?"

"Yes, Josh...That would have been best for everyone."

"Not for my son!"

"Josh..." He sighed.

"I know you don't approve but none of this is his fault." Josh replied. "He deserves to know me and I deserve to know him."

"Are you having a test done?"

"I believe her."

"You're going just on her word?" 

"Yes, Leo... I'm trusting her."

"Are you sleeping with her again?"

"No!" He exclaimed. "And how the hell is it your business if I was?!"

"It's my job to know!"

"So, I can't have a life?" He questioned. "I can't have a family?"

"That's not what I'm saying and you know that!" Leo gave him a look. "This can all turn out horrible wrong...I need to know what's going on so I can help you!"

"I appreciate it but..." 

"And I don't want to see you get hurt again." He continued, not allowing Josh to cut him off.

Josh feel silent, thinking about the last statement. "I'm not going to do anything stupid."

"You might think that but when you let your heart lead, your brain doesn't always pick up on all the stupid ideas."

"I know but Leo this is a child...My child... I want to be apart of his life...I don't want him turning up when his 18 and asking where the hell have I been." Josh told him.

"Even so..."

"Would you just walk away if it was Mallory?"

"That's different." Leo claimed.

"I promised I'd be apart of his life and I want to be...It's what going to happen." He replied. "I'm not going to let it effect my work...I still love my job but I deserve more...I need more."

Leo sighed. "Well, I guess there is nothing more I can say."

"No."

"Have you meet him yet?"

"No, I am tonight."

"Okay." He nodded. "I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yes, Sir.." He stood up. "Thank you."

"Josh?" He called when his deputy opened the door. "Remember, be careful."

"Yeah." He gave him a small smile before leaving the room.

Leo sighed and leaned back in his chair. Josh had a point, if this was his son then he should be apart of his life. Leo was just relieved that there was nothing going on between him and Leanne because he knew there would be trouble if there was.

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!!! **


	4. Changes

**Hey, thanks you all for the review! Sorry it's taken so long to update! I hope you like it and please review!! **

**Enjoy!!! **

**From The Past**

**Changes:**

Josh walked back to his office, being careful not to run into Sam, Toby or C.J knowing he would get more questions about Leanne. He knew he would have to tell them soon but it wasn't the right time yet. He hadn't even met Jackson and he still really didn't know how he felt about it all. He meant what he had said to Leo about wanting to be a part of his child's life and he knew it wasn't just because it was the right thing to do. He wanted to do this; he just wasn't entirely sure how to be a father.

"Yes, I'll let him know... Oh, wait, he's just got back." Donna covered the phone with her hand and looked up at Josh as he approached her desk. "There's a Leanne Matterson for you."

Instantly Josh smiled. "I'll take it in my office."

Donna raised an eyebrow as she watched her boss run into his office, closing the door behind him.

"Hello, Josh Lyman."

"Wow, this is weird." Leanne commented.

"What is?" He asked, sitting down at his desk.

"Me calling you at the White House." She replied. "Did you know you have an assistant?"

"Donna? Oh, that's what she does...I always wondered..." He joked.

"An assistant, Josh! You have an assistant!"

"I know, Lee...I was the one that hired her...kind of."

"So, you're really important then?" She questioned. "You weren't being big headed?"

"I probably should be offended by that." He said, moving his feet up onto the desk. "What was the reason you were calling anyway?"

"I wanted to see if you were still okay for tonight?"

"Yeah, of course…" He replied a little too quickly.

"Josh..."

"No, honestly, I'm sure." He cut in. "I'm a little nervous."

"Well, it's okay to be nervous."

"I'm not really used to being nervous."

"No, you're not used to admitting you're nervous." She teased.

He smiled widely. "Okay, Miss Know it all...What are we doing tonight?"

"What do you want to do?"

"I could cook?" He suggested, rolling his eyes at her reaction. "Stop laughing! I can cook!"

"Really?"

"Well, I'm not exactly professional but I think I can come up with some pasta or something..." He replied. "Kids like that, right?"

"Pasta would be good." She assured him.

"You sure? Because we could always go out..."

"No, it's fine. Stop worrying."

"Yeah, okay I'll try."

"I was also thinking..." She started but stopped.

"Thinking what?" He asked.

"I don't know...Maybe I shouldn't have said anything..."

"Lee, what were you thinking?"

"I don't know whether it's a good idea to tell him who you are..." She said before quickly adding. "I mean, not tonight...Soon...Just...Maybe he could get to know you a little..."

"Oh."

"If you want to tell him then we can...I was just thinking..."

"No, it's probably a good idea...Besides, you're his Mom..."

"And you're his Dad."

"Yeah." He said quietly. "But you know him best."

"Yeah..." She sighed.

"Look, you're right. We shouldn't tell him who I am."

"If you're sure you're okay with that?"

"Yes, it's fine." He assured her. "I better get back to work if I want to leave at all today. Come around about 7:30?"

"Yeah, we'll be there." She replied. "Thanks, Josh."

"Seriously, you don't have to thank me." He told her. "I'll see you later."

"Yeah, bye."

"Bye." He hung up the phone and smiled to himself.

_XxXxX_

"Okay, shall I order some food?" Donna asked, appearing in the doorway to Josh's office.

Josh glanced at his watch seeing it was almost 6:30. "Oh, no, don't worry. I'm going now anyway."

"Going where?" She frowned, watching as he started packing up his stuff.

"Home."

"Home?" She repeated. "It's early."

"Actually I was meant to finish 30 minutes ago..." He replied. "So were you too."

"Yeah but we never do."

"Well, today's different..."

"Is this a joke?" She asked, looking around for anyone who might be in on it.

"Nope." He shoved the last folder into his bag. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Josh, what's going on?" She followed him out of the office.

"We just went through this... I'm going home."

"Are you in trouble?"

"No."

"Are you sick?"

"Why do you ask if I'm in trouble before asking if I'm sick?"

"I'm just trying to establish what's going on quickly by eliminating the most likely possibility."

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm not in trouble nor am I sick."

"Hey, you want to go and get some food?" Sam asked, joining them as they passed his office.

"Nope." Josh didn't bother to stop. "I'm going home."

"You're going home?" Sam asked, concerned. "Are you in trouble."

"I haven't done anything!" Josh exclaimed loudly, spinning around to face Donna and Sam. "I'm not sick. I'm not in trouble. There's nothing happening. I'm just going home!"

Sam and Donna started after him as he walked off towards the exit.

"He has a new girlfriend." Donna concluded.

"It seems that way." Sam agreed before turning and heading back to his office.

_XxXxX_

Josh paced around his living room, making sure everything was tidy and in its right place before making his way back into the kitchen to check on dinner for the 3rd time in 5 minutes. He had decided to make pasta with chicken, but had fish fingers in the freezer just in case Jackson didn't like it. He stopped at the store on his way home and the cashier assured him that they don't take that long to cook.

He leaned back against the counter, taking a deep breath. Why was he so nervous? It was just a kid...But it was his kid. God, he had a kid. He took another deep breath and ran a hand through his hair. This was never how he pictured his family.

He remembered when he was a kid. He used to sit and listen to his Grandfather tell stories about when his father was a kid. He used to tell him how important having a family was. The key was to the find the perfect person to share it with. If you didn't love and respect each other, then it would never work. That's why Josh had found it so hard settling down. He hadn't met the perfect person. He thought Leanne could have been the one when he was in high school, but there were so many people against their relationship it would have never worked. He wondered whether now would be any different.

He sighed, it would be different. There was a child involved and he remembered what Leanne had told him the day before. He needed to be a father first.

He needed to concentrate on Jackson right now. They both needed to get to know each other. If Leanne were the right woman for him then they'd work it out eventually.

He jumped at the sound of the door buzzer.

"Hello?" He pressed the button as he spoke into the intercom, praying it wasn't anyone from working coming to find out what exactly was going on with him.

"Hey, sorry we're a little late..."

Josh smiled at the sound of her voice. "Come on up."

He took another deep breath, quickly casting an eye around the room once more, just as there was a knock on the door.

He pulled it open and smiled widely at Leanne.

"Sorry, we got a little delayed..."

"Hey, it's 5 minutes...Don't worry about it... I didn't even notice." He assured her, stepping aside. "Come in."

"Thanks." She returned his smiled.

Josh glanced down at the three-year-old standing in front of her. He felt his heart stop for a second at the little boy who stared up at him curiously with eyes that mirrored his father's, his sister's and his own.

He crouched down to his height.

"Hi, you must be Jackson... I'm Josh, I'm a friend of your Mom's..."

"Hi." Jackson whispered moving a little closer to his mother.

"He's a little shy at first." Leanne told Josh.

Josh stood up again. "Well, that's okay... Why don't we go and sit down whilst we wait for dinner?"

"It smells good." She told him, as they made their way to the couch.

"It's just pasta and chicken." He replied. "Is that okay?"

"That's great... Chicken's your favourite, isn't it?" She looked down at Jackson who nodded shyly.

Josh smiled in relief. "Good."

They sat in silence for a moment before Josh remembered he had brought some things for Jackson.

"Oh, I got you some gifts." He told him, picking up the plastic bag beside the couch and handed it to him.

"What do you say?" Leanne prompted as he looked inside the bag curiously.

"Thank you..." He mumbled, glancing at Josh before quickly looking away again.

Leanne smiled and watched as he looked through the bag, his eyes lighting up as he reached in and pulled out some toy cars.

"Can play with them now?" He asked, looking between Josh and his mother. Not sure who to ask permission from.

'Yeah, go ahead.' Josh replied, seeing Leanne give him a look telling him to answer.

"Cool!" He grinned widely for the first time and started to pull the cars out of its packaging.

"I'm going to check on dinner...I'll be right back." Josh said, standing up after watching his son for a few moments. He had no doubt in his mind that this child was his.

He moved around the kitchen, getting everything ready with a smile on his face. It's been a long time since he felt like this.

"You didn't have to do that..."

He turned and saw Leanne in the doorway. "Do what?"

"Buy all those toys." She stepped into the room fully.

"I didn't want him to get bored." He shrugged. "You said the other day he was playing with his cars and I saw one whilst I was shopping for food..."

"You must have spent a fortune..."

"Not really...I didn't know what to get...I was just going to get the car but then I thought he might prefer the lorry better...Then there was a motorbike... And well, I couldn't decided so I brought all three."

She smiled. "You're really sweet."

"I also brought a couple of movies." He admitted, holding up two Disney movies.

She laughed. "God, he's really going to love you."

"You think?"

"How could he not?" She replied softly.

They looked at each other silently for a few seconds before the oven timer went off, snapping them both back to reality.

"Uh, so dinner's ready." Josh announced moving over to the oven.

She nodded slightly. "Jackson and I will get washed up."

He sighed as she left the room. He really didn't know whether this was the real deal or if he was going crazy.

_XxXxX_

"So, how did it go?"

Josh looked and saw Leo leaning in his doorway. "What?"

"Last night... Did you meet him?"

"Yeah."

"And how did it go?" Leo repeated.

"It went... It was..." Josh struggled to find the right word. "It really was..."

"Josh?" Leo raised an eyebrow at his difficulty to finish the sentence.

"It was amazing..." He finally got out.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, I mean at first he was really shy and quiet but then after a while... He sort of came out of his shell...We played with some cars... And then we watched a movie..." He told him.

"So, you're seeing him again?"

"Uh, yeah...They're coming over again tonight."

"They?"

"Well, Leanne has to be there..." Josh replied, standing up and picking up a few files.

Leo had become like a father to him and he knew he was just trying to look out for him, but he also knew that he thought he should stay away from Leanne. He knew that his father would feel the same way too. So, he decided until he had worked out what was happening with Leanne and him then he'd just avoid discussing her with Leo.

"How's Toby and Sam doing with the speech for Friday night?"

Leo watched him for a moment, knowing he deliberately changed the subject but chose to let it go.

"Well, Toby's only kicked Sam out of the office twice, so I think it's going okay." Leo replied. "You ready for the Staff meeting?"

"Yeah, lets go." Josh nodded, following him out the office.

When they reached the Oval Office they found C.J, Toby and Sam already waiting, talking to Charlie.

"I tried calling you last night..." Sam looked at Josh as they joined them.

"I know."

"I left a message."

"I know."

"Yet, you didn't call me back..." Sam looked at him, a mixture of confusion and hurt evident on his face.

"I was busy..."

"Oh really?!" C.J leaned in closer.

"Uh, yeah..." Josh replied, frowning a little and stepping back away from her.

"Doing anything interesting?" She asked.

"Watching a movie."

"Well, that's nice for you...I could have been dying..." Sam started.

"But you weren't..." Josh cut him off.

"But you didn't know that."

"Actually, you said in your message..._'Josh, not important or anything...Toby's driving me crazy... lets get a beer.' _... So, yes, I did know you weren't dying."

"I could have been..." Sam mumbled.

"Will you lot quit it!" Leo told them. "You're acting like a bunch of High school kids."

They all stopped talking; getting that Leo wasn't in the mood for this from the tone of his voice. They all stayed silent, waiting for The President to finish up with his phone call to the British Prime Minster.

"Okay, I can't not know any longer!" Toby exclaimed, breaking the silence.

"Toby..." Leo sent him a warning look but the communication director ignored him.

"Who are you dating?"

Josh seemed a little startled by the question. "What are you talking about?"

"Your girlfriend, Josh!" Toby cleared it up for him. "Who is she and why are you hiding it from us?!"

"Girlfri... what? I haven't got a girlfriend." He claimed.

"Then where were you last night?" Sam asked.

"At home."

"Oh please..."

"It's the truth!"

"Josh, we've known you for years... You're the last person to leave work at 6:30pm to go home and watch a movie alone." C.J pointed out.

"I uh..." He struggled to find a reply; he never actually said he was home alone. He just said he didn't have a girlfriend. Which was true... He had a son.

"Well?" Toby prompted.

"You guys are never happy..." Josh finally managed to get out. "You've all be telling me since the shooting that I should be taking it easy...I do and I get accused of keeping secrets."

"Don't try throwing us off with that!" C.J told him.

"Oh, give the guy a break." Leo cut in. "I told him to go home."

"You did?" Sam looked at him. "Why?"

"Because he's my deputy and I need him to be able to do the job to the best of his ability... Working on just two hours of sleep a night is not going to help." Leo replied.

Leo didn't see it as lying. He never actually said the words 'go home' but he knew what Josh's plans were and didn't disagree with them. They would have to find out about what was going on sooner or later but he understood that Josh still needed time to get used to this himself.

"Why do I get the feeling neither of you are telling us the whole truth?" Toby questioned, looking at them.

"Because you're a suspicious, pessimistic man." Leo answered, walking towards the Oval Office when Mrs Landingham gestured for them to go on in.

"He has a point." Sam commented, following Josh and C.J into the office.

_XxXxX_

"I'm sorry..." It was 10:40pm and he was meant to be home 2 and half hours ago. He was glad that he had thought to give Leanne a key just in case he was running late but he didn't think he'd be this late.

Leanne looked up from where she was sat on the couch to Josh stood in the doorway to his apartment. "Hi."

"Hey." He said, closing the door quietly, glancing at a sleeping Jackson lying next to his Mother. "I'm sorry, the President wanted to talk to me about something."

"I'm sure it was important..." She gave him a small smile.

"I'm sure it wasn't, but I could be wrong... I think I might have slipped into a coma at some point." He dropped into the armchair, with a loud sigh and ran his hands over his face.

"Are you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"Josh?"

"I just... I didn't want..." He fell back against the chair. "I'm sorry for missing tonight."

"Don't be crazy...It wasn't like we had anything planned."

"We were going to watch the other movie I brought."

"We can do that another night."

"I guess..."

"It's not a problem, Josh..." She assured him. "Jackson was happy playing with his cars."

"When I said I wanted to be a part of his life, I agreed that I'd be a father first..." He said quietly. "It's only the second night, he doesn't even know who I am and I've already gone back on that."

"I didn't mean that you have to be here all the time." She told him. "I understand you have a job... A really important one... God, Josh... You work for the President...There are going to be times when you can't just leave work... When I said you have to be a father...I just meant, that you have be here when it matters and when he needs you..."

They both turn their attention to Jackson when he stirred slightly.

"Want to put him in my room?" Josh whispered, not wanting to wake the boy up.

Leanne hesitated but nodded then reached down and picked him up. Josh stood up and led her to his bedroom, opening the door for her and then watched as she laid their son on his bed, whispering good night and kissing his forehead before leaving the room.

"Coffee?" He offered, when she quietly closed the door.

"Sure." She replied following him into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry." He said after a few seconds of silence.

"Josh, stop apologising."

"It's going to take awhile." He continued as he made the coffee.

"What is?"

"Getting used to this..." He turned slightly to look at her. "I thought it would all change straight away...But...But it doesn't...I mean, I haven't even told anyone apart from Leo...And that's really because he knew before me anyway...I don't know how to explain this to anyone else."

"Well, it's not like getting a puppy or anything." She replied. "But you'll have to tell people eventually. They might notice a little kid following you around."

"I just... I've never really thought about having children...I mean, I wanted them someday in the future. I just assumed that when I met someone then I'd think about it..." He leaned back against the counter. "I want to be a father to Jackson... I will be...But... I don't know if I can be a good one."

"Josh, you just being here is more then he can ask for." She assured him. "You think that when I found out I was expecting him I was completely ready?"

"No, I guess not..."

"And there are still days when I don't feel ready." She continued. "A lot of this parent thing you learn on the job...And if there's one thing I know about you, it's that when you really want something, you try your hardest to be the best at it."

He looked across at her and smiled slightly.

"You're a good man, Josh... I know you're going to be a good father but you're right, it's not going to change straight away." She told him. "There are a lot of things that you're going to have to get used to."

He finished making the coffee and handed her a cup. "Okay, like what?"

"You want a list?" She raised an eyebrow following him out of the kitchen.

"Sure." He shrugged, dropping down on the couch.

"Okay, let me think of a few things..." She said sitting down next to him. "Okay, you're a lot allowed to curse."

"I don't curse." He insisted and she looked at him. "Okay fine, but I'm sure I can refrain from doing it in front of the kid."

"We'll see..." She teased. "You don't always get to watch what you want on T.V."

"I like cartoons." He shrugged.

"You would..." She rolled her eyes. "Kids get sick a lot."

"A lot?"

"Well, there is always some sort of cold or bugs going around..."

"Uh, okay..."

"You'll have to learn how to say no."

"I know how to say no..." He replied. "See, I just said it."

"Josh." She rolled her eyes.

"Oh come on, I say no to congress and republications on a daily basis... It won't be difficult."

"Okay, what if he wants some candy?"

"If I can have some candy too, then sure."

"No, Josh..."

"No?"

"To much candy will make him sick and he'd probably wouldn't eat his dinner."

"So, he can never have candy?" He frowned.

"He can have candy, you've just got to learn when it's the right time and when it's the wrong time."

"Can I still have candy?"

"You can't say no to him and then have some candy yourself."

"I'm not saying no to him...You are."

"Oh, God."

"What?"

"You're going to be the fun parent, aren't you?"

"The fun parent?" He questioned. "The one he likes the best?"

"You can't buy his love!" She warned him.

"Can't I just at least try?"

"Josh!"

"I'm joking."

"You better be."

He laughed slightly. "Seriously, I won't give him candy before dinner."

"Okay, fine..."

"And thank you...For talking me through this."

"That's what I'm here for."

His smile faded slightly. "What if I screw him up?"

"Josh..." She sighed moving close to him and taking his hand. "He's my son too, I love him more then anything in this world...I'm not going to let you screw him up."

He smiled again. "Good."

"Good." She nodded.

He hesitated slightly but then leaned forwards, pressing his lips against her cheek then her lips. He pulled back a little and they looked at each other for a moment before he kissed her again. He pulled her closer and deepened the kiss as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

She suddenly broke the kiss and moved away from him.

"Sorry... I can't... We shouldn't..." She stuttered slightly.

"I'm sorry... I shouldn't have done that."

"No, it's okay... It was okay... It was good..." She rambled. "But... It's just... With everything... I don't..."

"Yeah." He cut in, knowing what she was trying to say.

"I should go."

"No... Don't...It's late." He stood up when she did. "Stay here...You and Jackson can take my room..."

"What about you?"

"I'll sleep on the couch."

"No, Josh...I can't kick you out of your own bed..."

"No, its fine...Honestly... I'll have to be up in a couple of hours anyway." He assured her. "I'd feel happier with you guys staying here then leaving at this time of night."

She thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Okay, if you're sure."

"Yes, it's fine." He gave her a smile.

"Okay, well... Good night, then." She said quietly.

"Night." He whispered as she moved past and headed for his bedroom door.

He sighed and fell back down on the couch. Things were defiantly going to get more complicated before they got better.

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!!! **


	5. Telling Jackson

**Hey! Here's the next chapter! Thank you all for the reviews! Please keep them coming!! Sorry about taking so long to update!**

**Enjoy!!! **

**From The Past**

**Telling Jackson:**

Josh had always been a light sleeper. The slightest noise or movement would wake him up in an instance. So, when he heard footsteps walking towards him, he sat up and looked around his dark living room. Jackson froze when he saw Josh sitting up, looking at him.

"Hey." Josh whispered, rubbing his eyes. "You okay?"

Jackson just nodded his head silently.

"Your Mom still asleep?"

Jackson nodded again.

Josh glanced at the clock on the VCR and saw it was 6:30.

"You want some breakfast?" He asked, standing up.

"I didn't mean to wake you up?" He said quietly, looking down.

Josh smiled. "I was already awake... Come on, lets go and see what food I have."

Jackson quietly followed him into the kitchen.

"You want some toast?" He turned to him and he shrugged in reply. "Okay, I think I can manage to do some toast... Maybe some eggs too?"

Jackson smiled. "Okay!"

Josh couldn't help but smile back. "Okay."

He made some scrambled eggs and toast, placing a plate in front of Jackson before getting himself a plate. It had been a long time since he actually sat down at his own table and ate breakfast that he cooked himself.

"Good?" He asked, watching Jackson eat.

"Better then Mommy's." He nodded.

"Really?"

"She can't cook." Jackson told him, pulling a face.

Josh laughed. "She really that bad?"

"Huh-uh."

"What's going on in here?"

Josh looked and saw Leanne leaning against the door. "We're eating breakfast...I saved you some..."

"It's really good, Mommy." Jackson turned towards her. "It taste like proper eggs."

"Oh, it's that good is it?"

"Yeah!"

"Proper eggs?" Josh questioned, standing up to get her a plate. "Exactly how bad of a cook are you?"

"I'm not bad!" She claimed.

"Apparently, you are." Josh placed it down in front of her.

She just rolled her eyes and took a mouthful.

"Well?"

"You'd be in so much trouble if these egg weren't so good." She replied.

He laughed slightly and shook his head. "Well, I guess I'd better get ready for work."

"Aww." Jackson frowned. "What about our movie?"

"We can watch it tonight..." Leanne told him, before looking at Josh. "I mean, if that's okay?"

"No... No that'll be great." He said quickly. "I'll get us a pizza on the way home."

"Yeah!" Jackson grinned.

"Well, that's settled then." Josh smiled, relieved that Jackson was finally coming out of his shell a little. "I'm going to jump in the shower, I'll be right back."

"Josh?" Leanne followed him into the bathroom.

"What's up?"

"About last night..."

"Hey, don't worry...I'm sorry...I shouldn't have..."

She shook her head before cutting in. "It wasn't just you."

"But still."

"I don't want things to be weird with us."

"They won't be."

"And I don't want you thinking I'm mad at you."

"I'm not."

"And I don't want you to think that I didn't want to kiss you."

He raised an eyebrow. "You wanted to kiss me?"

She sighed and leaned back against the wall. "Josh..."

"You wanted to...But you stopped?"

"Things are way too complicated at the moment..."

"Are they?"

"Yes, Josh!" She insisted. "God, and your meant to be intelligent enough to advise the President."

"Well, we won't get into that right now..." He joked about her last comment. "But seriously, maybe things aren't as complicated as we think they are."

"We have a three year old son, no one knows that he's yours... And if my family ever find out they'd probably kill you!" She told him. "Never mind the fact that your boss hates me and would probably fire you for being with me."

"He doesn't hate you." He stated. "And he won't fire me."

"Josh..."

"And all that other stuff... Who cares?"

"I care."

"Lee, there has always been something between us...And there has always been something stopping us being together." He started. "But this time... We can make it work... We can be a family... Jackson, you and me..."

She stared at him. "How?"

"Move in here."

"What?"

"You and Jackson... Don't find a place of your own...Move in here."

"Josh, are you crazy?"

"Do I have to answer that?"

"Josh!" She exclaimed. "How... How could we move in here. You have one bedroom!"

"I have two."

"You have two bedrooms?" She asked.

"Yeah."

"So, uh... Why did you sleep on the couch last night?"

"Okay, well... I have a room that's meant to be a bedroom but is more like a dumping place for my crap." He replied. "But we can turn it into a bedroom...We can decorate it... Jackson can choose."

"It's very sweet of you, Josh but..."

"No, don't... Just think about it..." He cut in. "Just please...Think about it before you say no."

She was silent for a few seconds. "Okay...I'll think about it."

"Good." He nodded. "Right, now I really need to get ready for work or I'll be late."

"Okay."

"You guys hang around here for as long as you like." He told her, giving a quick kiss on the lips then blushed when he realised. "I'm sorry...I don't know why I just did that."

She smiled slightly. "It's okay... I'll leave you to it."

He smiled watching her leave the bathroom, staring after her before realising her had 30 minutes to get to work.

After his shower, he rushed around trying to get dressed and find a file he needed.

"You always this un-organised in the morning?" Leanne asked, leaning in the doorway.

"Pretty much, yeah..." He replied, looking through some papers. "Ha, got it."

She laughed a little and shook her head. "I still can't believe they let you talk to the President."

"Hey!"

"Come on, remember when you were in the 4th grade and Mallory's father arranged for one of the President's Senior staff to talk to your class?" She started. "And you asked why the President's house was boring and white?"

"I can't believe Mallory told you that story." Josh mumbled, not looking up from the paper in his hand.

"I can't believe you asked if it was because he couldn't afford to buy colourful paint..."

He shoved the paper back into its folder and then into his backpack before looking up at her. "I was a kid... And Mallory's making the colourful paint thing up."

"Whatever rainbow-boy." She laughed.

"I've really got to get going." He told her moving towards the door. "I'll see you tonight?"

"Sure." She smiled slightly.

As he went to pass her, she stopped him. They stared at each other for a moment before she hesitantly leaned forwards and kissed him softly. He started to kiss back, slowly putting his arms around her. After a couple of minutes, she broke the kiss with smaller ones. She smiled up at him as she straightened his tie. "You're going to be late."

It took a few seconds for her words to sink in and Josh looked his watch. "Damn! I'll see you later!"

_XxXxX_

"It could work..." Sam claimed, as he stood with C.J and Toby.

"We're not in the 3rd grade, Sam!" Toby glared at him.

"Maybe if we give it a try..."

"He's just finishing up with Leo." Charlie informed them, frowning seeing the three of them huddled together. "What's going on?"

"Nothing." C.J told him at the same time as Sam.

"I've got a plan."

Charlie gave him a wary look. "For what?"

"To find out what's going on with Josh."

"It's a stupid plan." Toby glared at Sam.

"It could work!" Sam insisted. "We just have to pretend that we have a secret that he'll really want to know, so he'll tell us his so we'll tell him ours."

"But we haven't got one!" Toby pointed out.

"That's our secret." Sam grinned, continuing when they just stared at him. "Get it... Our secret is that we haven't got a secret."

"How you graduated from Princeton is beyond me..." Toby muttered after a few more seconds of them just looking at his deputy.

"It could work!" He repeated.

"What could?"

They all turned and saw Josh joining them.

"Uh...Um...Nothing...It's a secret." Sam told him, whilst C.J rolled her eyes, Charlie looked at them all amused and Toby mumbled to himself.

"Okay."

Sam watched Josh for a few moments, frowning when he it seemed like he had no interest in their secret. "We can't tell you."

"Fine." Josh replied, distractedly. She had kissed him...What did that mean? He asked her to move in with him and she kissed him. Was that a yes?

"You can go on in now." Mrs. Landingham told them as she left the oval office.

Sam remained where he was, confused about Josh's reaction. He hated it when he was the only one that didn't know something. Why wasn't his plan working?

"Sam?" Mrs Landingham looked at him.

"Oh, right...Yeah." He quickly rushed into the Oval office when he realised the others had left him there.

_XxXxX_

That night, Josh returned home and like he promised, with a pizza. He stumbled and nearly fell over a box that was lying in front of the door.

"Oh, sorry!" Leanne rushed out of the kitchen. "I meant to move that."

"What's going on?" He asked, looking into his living room to see a few more boxes scattered around.

"Jackson likes blue."

"What?"

"You said he could choose." She said, a little nervous that he would have changed his mind.

"Yeah..." He nodded slowly, not sure whether he understood what she was saying.

"I thought I'd help tidy up for you...I mean, if you...You don't mind."

"Of course not..."

"I mean, I'd understand if you had changed your mind..." She rambled slightly, taking the pizza off of him and walking into the kitchen with it. "It wouldn't be a problem...We could find somewhere else..."

"I haven't changed my mind." He informed, following her.

"Really?"

"Yes!!" He couldn't help but grin. "You seriously want to move in here?"

"Well, yeah..."

"You're sure?" He asked.

"Pretty sure..." She laughed, still a little nervous. "I mean, it's a big step."

"I know...We can take things slow." He told her.

"Yeah." She nodded.

"So, where's Jackson?" He asked, after a few seconds.

"Well, he was trying to help me but last time I saw him, was about an hour ago and he was fast asleep on the couch."

"Josh!"

Josh turned around and saw Jackson running towards them.

"I guess he woke up." She added.

"Did you bring pizza?!" He asked, looking up at him.

Josh laughed. "Yeah, I did...Why don't you go and find that movie whilst your Mom and I sort the pizza out."

"Okay!" He grinned and ran off again.

"He never walks anywhere." Leanne commented.

"What's the point in walking when you can run?" Josh replied teasingly.

"He's defiantly your son." She rolled her eyes but then stopped and looked at him. "I meant…Uh..."

"It's okay..." He shook his head slightly to stop her. "But...But we're going to have to tell him... Soon."

"Yeah, I know..." She replied, quietly.

He watched her for a moment as she stood there, silently deep in thought.

"You think it'll go badly?" He asked.

Her head snapped up quickly at the question. "What? No... He'd... He'll love it."

"So... Lets tell him now."

"What?"

"We could tell him now."

"What about the movie?"

"Leanne?!"

She sighed. "I'm sorry...I'm just... It's... Last week, I was in England, a single Mom...Now, I'm here... Moving in with a guy who advises the President of The United States everyday... And Jackson has a father...It's just... It's all happened so quickly."

"You're really obsessed over me working for the President, aren't you?" He teased.

"It's an important job."

He stepped closer to her, gently placing his hands on her hips. "I'm sorry, if I'm moving to fast... It's just...Being with you... It doesn't feel new... It feels like it did back when we were still in school."

She smiled. "It's not just you...I want to be with you...I'm just saying...It's moving quickly...I don't want us to mess up."

"Are you guys coming or what?!" Jackson appeared in the doorway again before Josh had time to answer.

"In a minute... We want to talk to you first..." Leanne told him, stepping away from Josh.

"What about?" He asked.

"Okay, honey...Come here..." She sat down at one the kitchen chairs and pulled him up onto her lap, whilst Josh took a seat next to her.

"How would you like to live here?" She asked, glancing at Josh.

"With Josh?" He looked at him too.

"Yeah, with me..." Josh nodded.

"Can I bring some of my toys over?" He asked, turning back to his Mom.

"Yes." She smiled. "We'll bring all your stuff over."

He looked from her to Josh and then back to her. "Where are we going to put it all?!"

Josh couldn't help but laugh a little at the look on his face. "We can put it in your room."

His eyes widened. "I have a room?!"

"Yes but we need to paint it first..." Josh told him.

"Can I help?!"

"Sure."

"So, you would like to live here with Josh?"

"And you?"

"And me." She nodded.

"Okay!" He grinned. "Can we have pizza every night?"

"No." Leanne answered straight away.

"Ice cream?"

"Jackson, there's something else we need to talk about." She ignored his question. "Remember what I told you about your dad?"

Josh looked at her quickly. He knew he had suggested they tell him tonight but he didn't actually think she'd do it without them discussing it properly.

"You said he lived in a whole different country." Jackson replied. "And that he'd loved to meet me some day."

"That's right..." She nodded. "Okay and well, the thing is... Your Dad's here."

He frowned, confused. "Here?"

"Josh..." She started, giving him a quick look. "Josh is your Dad."

His eyes widened and turned to look at him. "Really?"

"Uh, yeah..." Josh whispered.

"Oh." He said, thinking about it all. "Do I have to call you Daddy now?"

"Uh, that's up to you..." Josh told him. "You can still call me Josh, if you want."

"Okay...Can we go watch the movie now?" He asked, jumping off his Mom's lap.

"Sure." She nodded, standing up. "I'll get the pizza."

"Come on, Josh." He said, running back out of the kitchen.

"He just needs time to let it all sink in..." Leanne told him, softly once they were alone.

"No, hey...It's fine." Josh shrugged. "I mean, I'm still trying to get used to it, myself, so it's fine."

"Okay..." She said slowly, not completely convinced.

"Well, we'd better get in there and start that movie." Josh gave her a small smile before going to find Jackson.

_XxXxX_

Josh looked across at the alarm clock on the bedside table, seeing it was 5:30am. He sighed and closed his eyes, drifting off back to sleep. Normally, if he had woken up at this time, he would get up and do some work before he actually went in. Things had changed since last week when he had asked Leanne and Jackson to move in with him.

It had been a little strange at first but he quickly grew to love it. So far, things were going great. Jackson still called him Josh instead of Dad, but Josh hoped that soon he'd change that. His relationship with Leanne was getting better and better everyday. At first she stayed in the spare room with Jackson but for the last few days, she had spent the night with him and it had been the best nights sleep he'd ever had. Which is why he had decided to stay in the nice, warm bed with Leanne in his arms instead of getting up and working.

It only took a few minutes for him to fall back to sleep until he felt someone shaking his arm. He opened his eyes and saw Jackson standing next to the bed.

"What's up?" Josh asked, sitting up.

"There's a woman on the phone." He whispered.

"A woman?" Josh yawned, glancing across and saw Leanne sitting up.

"What's going on?" She asked, sleepily.

"She asked for a Mr. Lyman..." Jackson told him. "She said Mr. Possum wants to talk to you."

"Possum?" Josh frowned then suddenly realised. "Potus?"

"That's what I said." Jackson shrugged. "I'll go get the phone for you!"

"Who's Mr. Potus?" Leanne asked, as Jackson ran back out of the room.

"Potus stands for President Of The United States." He explained.

"The President?!" She exclaimed, jumping out of bed and running over to the dresser and started to brush her hair.

Josh watched her amused. "You do realise, he's on the phone and can't see you right?"

"The president calls you at 5:30am?"

"Only when something is going on..." Josh replied, suddenly realising that he would probably have to leave to go into work. This was a new feeling for him... He was more concerned over the fact he couldn't stay and have breakfast with them rather than what had actually happened to make the President call him this early.

Before either one of them could say any more, Jackson rushed in and handed Josh the phone before bouncing on the bed.

"Josh Lyman." He spoke into the phone, leaning back against the headboard.

"Good morning, Joshua..." Mrs Landingham said. "I'll put you through to the President and for the record I told him this was a bad idea."

Josh groaned, realising this probably wasn't some kind of world crisis.

"Josh, good morning..." Bartlet came onto the line.

"Good morning, Sir...Is everything okay?"

"Well, see I was talking to Toby last night about that night in California during the campaign, when you and C.J made Sam enter that Elvis impersonating contest?" Bartlet started. "I was telling Charlie about it and I got the impression he didn't believe me...So, I was looking for the photographs but I couldn't find them...I thought you might have an idea where they were?"

Josh was quiet for a moment, wondering whether he was actually awake or if he was dreaming. Was the President of the United States really phoning him at 5:30am to ask for photographs of Sam Seaborn dressed an Elvis?

"Sir?"

"Yeah?"

"You do realise it's 5:30, right?"

"Yes, I couldn't sleep...Abbey's away...I figured you'd be awake."

"Uh, well...I wasn't but never mind." He shook his head slightly. "As for the photo's...I think I have some in my office somewhere...I'll ask Donna about it when I get in."

"Joshua Lyman not up at 5:30...Now I'm the one dreaming..." Bartlet joked.

This wasn't the first time he had called Josh this early. He had found out not long after Rosslyn that neither one of them could sleep that well. He decided that since they were both wide-awake thinking about the shooting when they shouldn't be then they might as well talk to each other. Although they never talked about it... They rarely talked about work either. Normally it was about the basketball game that was played the night before or a random useless fact from Jed and a lot of complaining from Josh.

"Uh, I was sort of up late last night, Sir." Josh told him causing Leanne to slap his arm. "Ow!"

"Josh?" Bartlet questioned. "Are you okay?"

"Uh, yes, Sir...Fine...Just...Just hit my foot." He told him.

"Well, okay...I'd better go and have some breakfast before the first lady and Mrs Landingham team up on me." He replied. "I'll see you when you get in."

"Yes, Sir...Thank you." Josh replaced the phone and looked over at Leanne and Jackson.

"I can't believe you just told the President of the United States that we were up late last night."

"What? It's not like I told him what we were doing." Josh shrugged in defence.

Jackson looked from Josh to his Mom, frowning a little. "What were you doing?"

"Okay, I think it's time for breakfast!" Leanne said, changing the conversation quickly.

"Yay!" Jackson cheered.

"I'll make my special pancakes!" She added.

Jackson pulled a face and looked at Josh, pleadingly.

"How about I make the pancakes." He laughed a little.

"Yay!"

"Hey, I can cook!" Leanne claimed.

"Sure you can..." Josh agreed, standing up and following Jackson out of the bedroom. "You're just so good, that we've decided you shouldn't cook so much because you'll spoil us."

"Alright, I'm making a list...And you're the first ones on the it." She stated, walking after them.

_XxXxX_

"So, Sam you'll talk with Matt Lewis?" Leo asked, during Staff later that morning.

"Yeah, we're having lunch." He nodded.

"Good... What's next?" Bartlet questioned.

"That's it for today, Sir..." Leo informed him.

"Right, great..." He stood up. "Oh and Toby...Josh agrees with me."

Josh's head snapped up and looked at the President. "Sir?"

"It was Vegas!" Toby stated.

"Oh, God, you're still not on about this?" Leo groaned.

"What's going on?" C.J asked.

"During the campaign... Whilst we were in California and you and Josh entered Sam in that Elvis competition..."

"We were in Vegas!" Toby insisted.

"Vegas? California? We were in New York, weren't we?" Josh looked at Sam and C.J.

"We went to New York?" Bartlet turned to Leo questionably.

Leo sighed. "Yes, Sir!"

"It was defiantly New York..." C.J agreed. "I've got photographs in my office."

"Ah, brilliant! Just what I wanted." Bartlet replied.

"Right, so if that's all..." Leo gestured for the door.

"If it was in New York...What happened in California?" Bartlet asked.

"I think we might have actually done some campaigning..." Leo answered.

"After we'd been celebrating a good day...Sam was so drunk that he fell asleep in a trash can..." Josh shrugged.

"Ah yes..."

"I have photos of that too." C.J added.

"Y'know, you guys might try picking on someone else for once." Sam commented.

"You guys might also try and do some work for once." Leo said.

"Okay, everyone get out..." Bartlet told them. "C.J I want those pictures."

"Yes, Sir..." She smiled as they filed out of the room.

"You're not really going to give him those pictures, are you?" Sam asked, as they left.

"He's the President of the United States...You want me to say no?"

"No, I want you to burn them."

"Not going to happen, Spanky." She told him, walking off.

"Josh?" Mrs Landingham called him over to her desk. "Would you like a cookie?"

"Uh...Okay..." He said slowly, it wasn't often that Mrs Landingham gave out her cookies. Normally, you'd have to earn them.

"I'm sorry about this morning's phone call...I tried to explain to him that it was 5:30 and it could wait..."

Josh smiled. "It's fine...I'm normally awake... He knows that."

"But you had guests over last night..." She replied.

"Uh...Well...Um..."

"Don't worry, dear...I won't tell a soul..." She patted his arm before picking up some folders. "And that boy seems so adorable."

Josh watched as she headed into the Oval office and closed the door behind her. He knew he'd have to start telling people before they all find out from someone else.

_XxXxX_

A few days later, Josh walked straight past Donna and into his office, closing the door behind him without saying a word to her. He threw himself into his chair and stared out of the window. Last night, he got up the courage to call his Mom and tell her about Leanne and Jackson.

He knew she'd be surprised but he thought after the shock had worn off then she'd be thrilled. She was a Grandmother at least after all these years. Plus she had always liked Leanne when they were dating during High school, although she hadn't known about the problems her family had with Josh being Jewish until her brothers attacked him, but his Mom wouldn't care about any of that. As long as Josh was happy then that was what was important.

Well, that's what he thought anyway. She had been silent on the other end of the phone whilst he explained everything. Then when he had finished, she ordered him to get a paternity test done to prove that Jackson was actually his son and even if he was, it didn't mean Josh had to be with Leanne. She called him crazy when he told her that he was falling back in love with her. She claimed he was just trying to get back the 'puppy' love they had shared when they were younger. She tried to tell him that Leanne was bad news that he needed to stay away from her. Then she gave him a lecture about one night stands and how disrespectful it was to his Father to be with 'that woman' on the night of his funeral.

How was he meant to tell everyone else now? When his own Mother wasn't happy about him felling in love and having his own family. Toby, C.J and Sam, it was their job to look at things from a political angle and how it would effect the President. He understood that they might go crazy about him having a 3 year old son that no one knows about and having a relationship with a woman who's family were racists, but he always thought his Mom would stand by him. He didn't know if he'd be able to do this with everyone against them. He wasn't going to give up on Leanne again and he defiantly wasn't going to walk away from Jackson. So that meant only one thing. If he was forced to choose between his old life and his job or Leanne and Jackson. Then there was no contest.

"Josh?"

He looked up and saw Donna standing in his doorway staring at him concerned. "Oh, hey."

"I was calling for like two minutes." She told him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah." He sighed.

"You sure?"

"Everything is fine." He forced a small smile.

"Well, okay...Oh, Leo wants to speak to you before Staff this morning." She informed him before leaving the office.

He groaned and rubbed his eyes. He wished he could just get out of there. He still hadn't told Leo that Leanne and him were back together. He had understood about the whole Jackson thing, even though he had also advised him to get a test done. Josh knew he'd go crazy about him dating Leanne again. All Josh wanted was for everyone to be happy for him.

He made his way to Leo's office and Margaret told him to go straight in.

"Donna said you wanted to see me."

Leo looked up from what he was reading. "Close the door and take a seat."

Josh did as he was told, silently waiting for Leo to speak.

"I just got a phone call from your Mother."

"Huh...I should have seen that one coming." Josh said, more to himself then to Leo.

"She seems to think I have some kind of influence over you..." Leo continued, ignoring his comment. "She wants me to convince you to stay away from Leanne, but I assured her that there was nothing going on between the two of you and you were just trying to sort things out about Jackson..."

"Leo..."

"You lied to me!" Leo cut him off. "I asked you if you were having a relationship with her and you said no!"

"You asked me if I was sleeping with her!" Josh shot back. "And I told you that it wasn't any of your business."

"Damn it, Josh!" Leo exclaimed, banging his hand on the desk. "What are you thinking?!"

"I'm thinking I want to have a life!" He replied. "I'm thinking I want to have a family!"

"A family that you want to keep secret?" Leo asked. "Because it's been over a week now and other then your mother and myself, no one else knows!"

"Yeah and just look how well you two took it!" Josh stood up. "Why can't you just understand that this is making me happy?! That Leanne is making me happy?! Why does everything we do always have to be about work?!"

"Oh come on, Josh! This is not just about work and you know that!" Leo replied. "The fact that her family tried to kill you last time is a big deal here!"

"Her father is dead! She hasn't spoken to her brothers since she went off to college!" Josh claimed.

"That doesn't mean that when they find out that they wont come after you again." Leo told him. "I mean, you put them both in jail for the attack... They haven't seen their sister in years because of you...I would think they have more reason to kill you now!"

"Who says they'll find out?"

"Come on, Josh..." He rolled his eyes. "You're Deputy Chief Of Staff to the President Of The United States...When the press find out you have a secret son... They're going to go crazy!"

Josh was silent for a moment, thinking about it all. Leo did have a point.

"Well, maybe I shouldn't be Deputy Chief Of Staff any more."

"I'm sorry?"

"I understand this might cause some problems for the administration and I can't expect you or anyone else for that matter to stand up for me when you disagree with me." He replied. "Just say the word and you'll have my resignation letter on your desk by the end of the day."

Leo watched as Josh turned and silently opened the door, walking past Margaret, who was staring at Leo. He sighed, wondering how much of that she actually heard.

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!**


	6. Best Friends

**Hey guys, here's the next chapter. Please review and let me know what you think!! Thanks!**

**Enjoy!!!**

**From The Past**

**Best Friends:**

Leo looked at Margaret, who stared silently at him. "Do you need something?"

"Uh, no sir." She sat down at her desk quickly.

Leo rolled his eyes and closed his office door. If Margaret had been listening he was sure that everyone in the entire West Wing would know within an hour.

He decided that Josh just needed time to cool off. There was no way he was serious about resigning. This job was Josh's life. He would never willingly give it up without a fight.

_XxXxX_

"I'm telling you, something is going on that he doesn't want us to know about..." Sam told Donna.

"Well, I defiantly think he's seeing someone." Donna replied, sorting through some files on her desk.

"Yeah but why won't he just tell us that?" He asked. "What's he hiding?"

Donna was just about to answer when Josh stormed past them.

"Josh?"

"Anyone call?" He asked, pausing in his doorway, keeping his back to them.

"No." She told him. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah."

"Do you need anything?"

"No, I've got a few reports to read so I'll be in here." He told her before walking in and closing the door.

Sam and Donna shared a concerned look before Sam walked towards the door, knocking lightly then opening it.

"Josh, what did Leo want?"

"Nothing." He replied, not taking his eyes off of the report he was reading.

"Josh?"

"Sam, seriously just leave it." He looked up at him.

"But..." He was cut off again but this time by someone else.

"Joshua Lyman?!"

"Oh, God..." Josh groaned, letting his head fell down to the desk as Mallory O'Brian entered the office.

"Mal?" Sam looked at her surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to hurt him!" She pointed at Josh. "You should have called me!"

"Yeah, well…" Josh started.

"Called about what?" Sam asked.

"It's been going on for a week, Josh!" She folded her arms.

"Yes."

"And you didn't tell me?!"

"No."

"Josh!"

"Look, if you want to lecture me about how terrible this idea is, then you're going to have to get in line behind _my_ Mother and _your_ Father." He stood up. "But y'know what, say what you like because I don't give a damn any more! This is my life! I'll do what the hell I like with it!"

Sam and Mallory stared at him for a moment.

"Are you finished?" She asked.

"Yes."

She stepped closer to him then hugged him.

"Uh, Mal?"

"I'm happy for you." She told him.

"Really?"

"Yes, you idiot!" She pulled back, slapping his arm. "But you should have told me."

"Okay, can we back up a little bit?" Sam waved his arms around to get their attention. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Sam, can you give us a minute?" Josh asked.

"No."

"Sam..."

"No! I want to know what's going on!" He insisted, crossing his arms.

"Bye, Sam." Mallory gently pushed him out of the office and closed the door.

"How did you find out?" Josh questioned.

"Leanne called me to see if we could catch up...She thought you had already told me."

He sighed and sat back down. "I did mean to tell you...Things have been a bit hectic."

"Well, you've just discovered you have a three year old son _and_ you've asked a woman, you weren't even dating to move in with you..." Mallory stated. "So, I think I can agree with you on that."

Josh smiled slightly. "Y'know, if you didn't know Leanne and me, you'd think we were mad."

"Yeah, probably...Is that why you haven't told Sam and the others?"

Josh put his elbow on the desk, leaning his head on his hand.

"The reason I haven't told them is because they're going to go crazy." Josh stated. "I mean, I can't blame them, it's their job to think how this will reflect on the President...Hell, it's my job to think how this will reflect on the President..."

"So, what do you think the solution is?" She asked.

He was quiet for a moment, before looking up at her. "I just told your Dad that I'd resign if they needed me too."

She stared at him before laughing.

"I'm serious." Josh told her.

"You can't quit!" She claimed. "God, Josh... You love this job!"

"Yeah." He shrugged. "But I'm not willing to choose it over Leanne and Jackson."

"You shouldn't have to!"

He sighed. "Sometimes that's just the way it is."

"What did my Dad say?"

"What?"

"When you said you'd resign. What did he say?"

"Nothing, I didn't give him a chance..."

"Well, there is no way he'd would let that happen!"

"Mal..."

"No, Josh! He wouldn't make you choose between having a family and your job!" She calmed. "Besides, I'm sure that's illegal."

"It would be what's best for the administration." He told her.

"What did you mean earlier?"

"When?"

"When you said if I thought it was terrible idea then I'd need to get in line behind your Mom and my Dad." She reminded him. "What did you mean? He thinks this is a terrible idea?"

Josh shrugged. "He...He probably has his reasons..."

"You're in love, Josh! He wants you to give up on that?!"

He rubbed his eyes and leaned back in his chair. "I don't know... I know he doesn't trust Leanne...I know he doesn't want her around."

"Yeah but...You're like a son to him...Why wouldn't he be happy for you?"

"Because I'm like a son to him." Josh answered.

She frowned. "I don't understand."

"The last time Leanne and I were together... Her brother's attacked me." He said. "He thinks there's a chance of that happening again."

"But that was years ago."

"That's what I've been telling him." He replied. "I don't know how much more I can take, Mal."

"Talk to him!"

"I've tried! This has gone too far! I'm trying to spilt my time between work, Leanne and Jackson...I've got Sam acting like Sherlock Holmes trying to work out what's going on..." He started to rant. "And I can't tell him the truth yet because I can't bear to hear one more person tell me how stupid I'm being!"

"Josh..."

"Maybe, it'll be better for everyone if I did just leave." He sighed. "Leanne has been living in England...We could move there."

She raised an eyebrow. "What would you do?"

He shrugged. "I dunno...They have Starbucks over there right? Maybe I could get a job there."

She smiled. "You might be a little over qualified."

"Either that or I'd become the crazy American guy who claims he knows the President of The United States."

"That could be fun..." She laughed a little.

He smiled for a moment before it faded slightly. "Seriously though, maybe it is time I moved on."

_XxXxX_

Jed knocked on the door connecting to Leo's office.

"Mr President..." Leo got to his feet as he walked in.

"It's been a pretty quiet day." Jed observed, walking over to the couch and sitting down.

"For some people maybe." Leo replied, retaking his seat behind the desk.

"Y'know I had chance to go and talk to some of the staff."

"Oh, God." He groaned.

"Well, actually talk to might not be the correct word..."

"Sir?"

"I over heard Margaret talking to Donna."

"Margaret?" Leo repeated, having a feeling where this was heading.

"Yes, according to her...Josh resigned earlier."

He sighed. "Margaret should spend more time working then gossiping."

"Leo." He gave him a look. "What's going on with Josh?"

"Nothing for you to worry about, Sir."

"He resigned?!"

"No, Sir." Leo shook his head. "He offered to resign if I thought it was needed."

"And is it?"

"No. It'll all blow over soon."

"Well, it better!" Jed told him.

There was a knock on the door and Margaret stepped in.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, Mr President..." She looked at him before Leo. "But Mallory is here to see you...She said it's important."

"Send her in." Jed answered for Leo. A second later, Mallory walked in. "Mal, how are you?"

"I'm very good, Mr President." She smiled at him. "And yourself?"

"I'm fine." He replied, standing up. "I should leave you two to it."

"No, sir...This won't take a minute." She replied. "Then you can get back to whatever you were doing."

"What's going on, Mal?" Leo looked at his daughter.

She turned towards him. "Stop being a jackass!"

"Mallory!" Leo exclaimed.

"He's happy, Dad! Why can't you see that?!"

"What's this all..."

"You know what this is about!" She told him. "I can't believe you're going to let him quit his job over this..."

Leo rolled his eyes. "He's not going to quit."

"Oh really! Well, I've just spoken to him and he's talking about working at a Starbucks in England!"

Leo laughed a little at the image of Josh serving coffee.

"Dad! I'm being serious!" She insisted. "If you don't sort this out then he's going to go."

"To Starbucks?" He joked.

"To anywhere he can be with Leanne and Jackson!" She claimed.

"Look, Mal...I know you're their friends, but you don't understand how..."

"No, Dad! Don't tell me I don't understand! Because I was there when they were together before...And I've been there when they've been apart..." She started. "Do you know how hurt he is about how you and his Mom reacted to all of this?"

"Mal.."

"Do you know how crazy Sam is driving him trying to find out what's going on?" She continued. "Do you know how crazy it's making him not being able to tell everyone the truth...But he's scared they will all react like you did."

"I think you need to calm down a little..." He told her.

"I think you need to talk to him." She replied. "Because you're going to push him away...We almost lost him when he was hit by the bullet and we could do nothing about it...You can stop this now by just talking to him."

Leo was silent for a moment, thinking about what she had just said.

"He's happy, Dad... They are what he needs... He knows that, and so do you." She added quietly. "Don't ruin it."

"Wow." Jed commented when Mallory had left the office. "Y'know maybe we could use her in debates."

"Sir..." Leo started.

"Because I don't know half the story on what the hell is going on but she's already convinced me to be on Josh's side." He continued. "I mean, it was Josh she was talking about, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"I think you should start from the beginning."

"I have it under control, Sir."

"Leo, Josh is talking about resigning!" Jed pointed out.

"He's not serious."

"Can you be sure of that?" He asked and Leo stayed silent. "This Leanne...Josh's new girlfriend?"

Leo sighed and sat down on the couch next to him. "They dated whilst they were high school."

"Now they're back together?"

"You could say that..." He mumbled.

"Is she bad news?"

Leo rubbed his eyes. "She's a nice girl."

"So, what's the problem?"

"She hasn't got a very nice family." Leo told him. "Her father was old school. Violence was his answer to everything, yet he was a very strict Catholic and well, a Jewish boy dating his youngest and only daughter wasn't acceptable."

"What happened?"

"He forbid her to see him, but I guess neither of them were happy about that and kept dating in secret...But they got caught and Leanne's brothers attacked Josh."

"Attacked?!"

"I was there that night, Sir...At his house with his parents when they got that call to go to the hospital. They were absolutely terrified. They had already lost one child..." His voice trailed off for a moment, thinking about that night. "He was unconscious for a few hours...They were concerned about brain damage...He had some broken ribs and a broken arm...Within a week, he was allowed back home..."

Jed stayed silent, whilst Leo talked.

"That night everyone was afraid he wasn't going to make it...Then the next morning, he woke up and it's like nothing had happened."

"What happened with Leanne after that?"

"She broke up with him...Told him they were both better off ending it there before one of them got hurt again." Leo seemed to snap out of the daze he had been in. "She went off to college...So did he...They both moved on."

"Except they didn't or she wouldn't be here now."

"They got together for one night when he went back home for his father's funeral...I think after that was when she decided to move to England." He told him. "Then she heard about the shooting and was worried about him."

"Well, England is a long way to come...She must care about him."

"Hmm."

Jed watched him for a moment. "What else is there?"

"Sir?"

"There's something you're not telling me." He stated. "I know you, I know there's something."

"She didn't come alone."

"I don't understand..." Jed frowned.

"She's brought her son with her."

"She has a son?"

"He's three years old..." Leo told him, continuing when Jed still didn't seem to understand. "He was born about 9 months after Josh's father died."

"What?" He started before realising, his eyes widening. "You can't be serious?!"

"Apparently, so...I advised Josh to do tests just in case...I mean, he hasn't seen this girl since he was a teenager, really..."

"You think she's lying?"

Leo opened his mouth to reply but then stopped himself, sighing. "No."

"So, you think it's his kid?"

"Sir, the minute I saw that boy...I knew... He looks just like his father." He admitted.

Jed nodded slightly, thinking for a moment. "Then why would you try and stop Josh from having a relationship with him?"

"I was not trying to stop him...They live in England...How hard do you think it would be for Josh to be a father with him miles away?" Leo claimed. "Not to mention the fact that Leanne's family are still a bit peeved about getting put into jail for the attack or about how they haven't seen Leanne since then either..."

"Leo!"

"And I'm pretty sure they're not going to like the Jewish boy knocking up their little sister then abandoning her for three years!"

"Wait, a minute…I thought Josh didn't know about the child.."

"That won't matter to them, Sir." He replied.

Jed sighed. "You can't stop him from dating her Leo."

"They're living together."

"What?"

"He told his Mom last night that he's asked her to move and she agreed."

"Hmm, Josh Lyman who would have thought it..." Jed said quietly to himself before looking back at Leo. "Mallory was right, Leo... You're going to end up pushing him away if you make him choose between them and this job."

"This is Josh were talking about." Leo reminded him.

"This is Josh, in love and a father now... Y'know it changes things, Leo...I've noticed he's changed the past few days...I had no idea it was anything like this...But I noticed something was different..." Jed stated.

"Yeah..." He sighed.

"You've got to talk to him..." Jed stood up. "I don't want to lose him, Leo... I don't want to lose him as a member of my family...And I don't want to lose him as an advisor..."

"Yes, Sir."

"So, fix this." He ordered softly, before leaving the room, going back into the oval office.

"Yeah." He said quietly, sitting back down behind his desk.

_XxXxX_

"You threatened to quit?!" Leanne exclaimed, when Josh told her what had happened with Leo.

"I said I would, yes..." Josh sighed.

"You can't!" She insisted. "You love your job!"

"Yeah…" He shrugged.

"Josh!"

"What?"

"You can't quit because of me!"

"Sure I can..." He replied.

"Have you've completely lost it?!"

"I think you should calm down." He told her. "Yes, I said I'd resign partly because of you...But also because of Jackson. I want to be father... Besides, I've also got to think about how this would look to the press."

"What do you mean?"

"The Deputy Chief of Staff has a secret son..." He pointed out. "It's not going to make me or the administration look very good...Especially since my boss doesn't approve."

"Oh, God... Josh, I'm sorry...I never thought I'd cause this much trouble..."

"Hey, don't worry...You haven't...Everything will be fine."

"But you could lose your job!"

"But I'll have you." He said softly.

She couldn't help but smile. "You know how cheesy that sounds?"

"Yet I don't care." He grinned.

She rolled her eyes teasingly just as Jackson ran into the room, grabbing Josh's hand.

"Josh! Come play cars with me!"

He laughed as he tried to pull him out of the room just as the doorbell rang. "Okay, I'm coming."

"I'll get the door then." Leanne called after them sarcastically before walking towards the door.

She pulled it open and was surprised to see Leo standing there.

"Mr McGarry?" She said. "Uh, come on in..."

"I just dropped by to talk to Josh..." Leo stepped into the apartment.

"He's just through there..." Leanne pointed into the living room.

"Thanks." He gave her a small smile.

Leanne took a deep breath before following him.

"Josh."

He looked up from where he was lying on the floor next to Jackson. "Leo?"

"Can we talk?"

"Can't it wait until I get to work, tomorrow?"

"It's not about work." He told him before quickly adding. "It won't take long."

"Fine." He sighed, pushing himself up, looking at Jackson. "I'll be right back, Kid."

"Okay..." He shrugged and continued to play.

Leo followed Josh out to the kitchen.

"You want a coffee?" He offered.

"Nah, I'll say what I have to say then I'll leave you in peace." Leo replied. "I was wrong to act the way I did."

Josh's head snapped up in surprise. "What?"

"I'm sorry." Leo said. "I was wrong."

"Seriously, Leo...What the hell?" He started, completely confused.

"I spoke to Mallory...Well, actually...It was more of her shouting and me listening..." He replied. "But she sort of made me understand that you're going to choose anything over your family...And also that you shouldn't have to choose either."

Josh was still a little stunned that he was here apologising. "Mal, shouted at you?"

"In front of the President." He nodded.

"Oh, God." He groaned.

"She was right, though Josh..." He told him. "And I'd like to say I didn't act like that because of how it would make the administration look or because I don't like Leanne."

"I know that." Josh said quietly.

"I promised your mother after the shooting, I'd look out for you...I was there the last time you two were together...I remember how hard it was for you...I remember what happened." Leo stated. "Sam, Toby, C.J, Donna, Charlie...You guys, you've all become part of my family…I'd do anything for either one of you... But I've seen you go through so much already in your life... I don't want to see you go through anything else."

Josh was quiet for a moment before repeating what he had just said. "Leo, I know."

He smiled slightly. "Well, then...I'd better leave you to it."

"You could stay for a coffee, y'know."

"Yeah I know, but I need to get back." Leo headed towards the door. "Go play with your son."

Josh smiled. "Yes, sir."

"And Josh?"

"Yeah?"

"I am happy for you."

"I'm happy for me too." He replied, smiling slightly. Everything was starting to look up.

_XxXxX_

"I'm telling you, that's what Margaret said." Donna said to Sam and Toby, who was stood next to her desk.

"He resigned?" Sam eyes were wide. "Why?"

"I don't know, Margaret said she couldn't hear the whole conversation but she said that Josh told Leo, that all he had to do was say the word and he'd hand in his resignation." Donna replied.

"Oh please!" Toby rolled his eyes. "This is just gossip!"

"I don't gossip!" Donna said defensively. "I'm only concerned because my job is on the line in this also."

"This all happened, yesterday right?" Toby questioned.

"Yes."

"Then why is he sitting in his office today, if he's quit?"

Donna rolled her eyes. "I didn't say he had quit. I said he offered to quit!"

"Who offers to quit?!"

"Apparently Josh." Sam stated.

"Right, well I'm going to leave now and do some real work..."

"Don't you want to know what's been going on with him, Toby?" Sam asked. "I know it's been driving you crazy for the past few days."

"I'm not interested in gossip, Sam...Come find me when you have some proof!"

"Right, I'm going to talk to him." Sam turned to look back at Donna.

"Toby?"

"No, Josh."

"Ah right."

"I'm going to do it now."

"Okay."

He hesitated before going into his best friend's office.

"Josh?" Sam knocked on the door as he pushed it open.

"What's up?" Josh looked up from what he was reading.

"I just wanted to talk to you about something." Sam replied, closing the door and taking a seat, before Josh could say any more. "You know you're my best friend, don't you."

"I guess, yeah..." Josh said slowly, looking at him curiously.

"Well, you are...And I just don't think I say it enough." He stated. "I mean, after what happened at Rosslyn, it sort of shows you how much someone means to you..."

"Sam, are you hitting on me?" Josh cut in, jokingly.

"What? No, God, no!" He said defensively. "I just...Well, you're my best friend and I'd do anything for you."

Josh gave him a confused look but smiled slightly. "Okay, well thanks."

"I mean, it... And I know I can tell you anything...Like Laurie... Oh and all the trouble I was having with Mallory..."

"Oh, God, Sam, who did you sleep with this time?"

"No one!" He exclaimed. "I just...Well..."

"Sam, what's this about?"

"Nothing, I just wanted to tell you, you're my best friend."

"Okay, thank you, I think..." Josh replied. "You're my best friend too."

"Good! Good!"

"Right, well I need to finish reading this report..."

"And as your best friend...I think you should know that you can tell me anything." Sam cut him off.

"I do know..."

"Like say if you found another job...You'd be able to talk it over with me...I wouldn't tell anyone... Or if you were dating someone you shouldn't be...As your friend... Your best friend...I'd help you with what I could..."

Josh stayed silent as Sam rambled, deciding it was probably a good time to tell him what was really going on. Leo had warned him earlier that the President knew about Leanne and Jackson and wanted to question him about them. So, it was a probably good idea to start telling people before they found out by someone else.

"I could help you out if you were having money troubles..." Sam continued.

"Sam, I have a three year old son."

"Exactly! If you had a child, I'd be supportive." Sam replied, not realising. "Even if you broke the law...I'm a lawyer...Wait, hang on."

Josh watched as he thought about what he had just said.

"You have a son?!"

"He's name is Jackson."

"What? How?"

"Well, I'm not explaining that to you...Go ask Toby."

"Josh!"

"Leanne, the girl that came to the bar last week... We used to date..."

"Wow..." He stared at him. "Oh, God! C.J's going to hit you... Hard."

"What?! Why?"

"Well, one, the press are going to love this and two, you left your pregnant ex-girlfriend?"

"I didn't know she was pregnant." He explained. "I only found out about Jackson, last week...She's been living in England."

"What's going to happen now? Is she going back?"

"No, they're kind of living with me."

"You only have two bedrooms." He pointed out.

"Uh, well... Yeah we only need two bedrooms really..."

Sam's eyes widened slightly. "So, since last week, you've found out you have a son, got back together with your ex and moved them both in with you?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

"I think, I'm going to need a big drink."

"No one knows apart from Leo, The President, Mallory and my Mom... I know I need to tell everyone and I will do soon, so please you can't say anything."

"Mallory knows?"

"Leanne and her used to be best friend." Josh answered. "You won't say anything to anyone?"

"Y'know C.J's going to wanna kick your girlfriend's ass for not telling you sooner?"

"Sam!?"

"What?"

"You can't say anything!"

"I won't, I promise."

"Good."

There was a silence as they both sat deep in thought.

"Donna's gonna probably want to hurt her too."

Josh picked up the file had been reading before.

"Get out."

"See you later." Sam stood up and left the office, still stunned from what he just learnt.

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!! **


	7. Horsey Game

**Hey, sorry it took so long to update, please review and let me know what you think!! Thanks!**

**From The Past**

**Horsey Game:**

Josh looked at Leanne through the mirror in the bathroom as he brushed his teeth. He spat the toothpaste into the sink before turning to face her.

"I should come..."

"You haven't got time." She replied, applying some make-up.

"I can make time."

"No, you can't." She rolled her eyes, kissing his cheek lightly as she pushed past him.

He watched as she started to tidy the bathroom up.

"But you're going to look at daycares for Jackson." He pointed out. "I should be there."

"Josh, he won't be starting for another year or so." She replied. "I'm just checking out a few..."

"But..."

"Look, you're a busy, busy man." She stated as she left the bathroom, his eyes followed her as she moved around the bedroom. "So, I'm going to check out a few of the local daycares and I'll work out which are the good ones, so that when it's time to decide, you wont have to waste your time on the bad ones."

He leaned against the doorframe, sighing.

She stopped what she was doing and loosely put her arms around his neck.

"Besides, it'll give me chance to discover Washington." She added. "I've been here two weeks and I don't know where anything is."

He smiled slightly. "I could show you around..." 

"Josh." She groaned, burying her face in his chest.

"What?"

"You've got work."

"I can ditch it."

She laughed. "I'm sure The President wouldn't mind at all."

"I think he'd understand." He tightened his arms around her.

"You've got to go to work." She said again, pushing herself away from him. "You've got a country to run."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that."

She rolled her eyes and stepped back. "I'm going to make sure that Jackson's getting ready and not playing."

"You going to take him with you today?" Josh asked, starting to tie up his tie.

"No, I'm going to drop him off at Tina's for a few hours."

He frowned a little. "You sure he'll be okay?"

"She's my cousin's best friend, besides I've known her for years."

"I just meant, he said he didn't feel well last night."

She laughed a little. "Aw, look at you...You're so cute."

"What?"

"You actually believed him."

"Well, yeah. He said..."

"He wants us both to stay at home with him." She explained.

"He was trying to play me?"

"Yeah."

"Damn."

"Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"Is this like the 'no candy before dinner' thing?" 

"Yeah, a little."

He sighed. "Someone really needs to write a help book for this kind of thing."

She let out another small laugh as she left the bedroom. "You really are cute."

He was about to reply when he realised he was alone in the room. He quickly grabbed his jacket and backpack.

He stopped when he saw Leanne trying to convince a pouting Jackson to go and get dressed. He smiled; he couldn't believe this was his life. He never had a relationship where he'd gladly give up his job to spend the day with a girlfriend.

"Josh!"

"Huh? What?" He snapped back to reality.

"You're going to be late." She pointed to the clock. "What is it with you two today?"

He shrugged, flashing her a smile as he put on his jacket.

"I'm leaving right now." He assured her.

"Can I come?" Jackson asked, hopefully.

"Sorry, buddy...I've got a lot of work to do." He replied, wishing he could take Jackson with him, but he knew it wouldn't be a good idea. There would be nothing for him to do and he'd get bored, it also didn't help that only The President, Leo, Sam and Mallory knew about him.

"Aww!" He folded his arms and pouted again.

"Leave while you can." Leanne whispered teasingly as she kissed him goodbye.

"You'll really be okay?" He asked, as he hesitated by the door.

"Go!" She pointed to the door.

"Okay, okay..." He held his hands up. "See ya."

_XxXxX_

"I'm just saying you told me five days ago, you've known yourself for nearly two weeks." Sam stated, sitting in the visitor's chair in Josh's office, whilst he was trying to read a report.

Josh glanced up at him, uninterested in the conversation. "I'll tell them."

"When?"

"In an hour."

"Really?" 

"For a day... A week...A month..." Josh continued to read the report. "Maybe I can hold off until I send him off to college?"

"Y'know, I think you're messing with me." Sam concluded.

"Yeah and I think you should be doing something...Like I don't know...Work maybe?"

"Don't change the subject."

"Sam!" He groaned, rubbing his eyes. "What do you want from me?"

"I want for Toby and C.J to find out from you and not from a question in the briefing room...Which I'm surprised hasn't already happened since you've moved the two of them into your apartment."

Josh sighed, leaning back in his chair. He wanted to tell everyone about Jackson, particularly Toby and C.J, but he knew how they'd react. They'd shout and there was a possibility that C.J would throw things. For the moment, he was enjoying getting to know his son and being in a relationship with Leanne.

Since Mallory had shouted at her Dad, Leo had been supportive and even offered advice. The President had asked about Jackson and Leanne, telling Josh that he wanted to meet them both soon. His Mom had somewhat calmed down, showing a little interest in Jackson but still insisted Josh got some proof. It was Sam and Mallory who had been the most help. On the evening that Josh had told Sam about it all, his friend had turned up at his apartment with a pizza, wanting to meet Leanne and Jackson. Mallory also made an effort to reform her friendship with Leanne, which Josh was relieved about, since she didn't know anyone in Washington.

"Don't get me wrong, I'm so over the moon happy for you..." Sam claimed, after a few seconds of studying Josh. "I think, you've changed over the past two weeks...You're happier...You're working normal hours... And it's because you've fallen head over heels in love."

Josh turned his eyes from the desk up to Sam, a small smile on his face "Yeah."

Sam returned the smile, shaking his head slightly, not used to seeing Josh like this.

"They're going to be a little pissed at the way you've handle this, but they'll get over it because at the end of the day, they're your friends as well as your colleagues and they just want the best for you."

"I'll tell them soon." Josh said quietly, after a few seconds of silence.

"Good." Sam stood up. "I really should do some work today."

"Yeah, might be a good idea."

"I'll see you later." He walked towards the door.

"Sam? Thanks, yeah..."

Sam just gave him a small nod before leaving.

_XxXxX_

"Josh?" Donna appeared in his doorway later that day.

"Hmm?"

"Security just called...There's a woman down there that's asking to see you."

"She a nut job?" He asked, still concentrating on what he was typing on the computer.

"I don't know, but she's got a kid with her, who is crying pretty loudly down there so..." She started.

Josh spun around in his chair to face her. "A kid?"

"Yes..."

"And he's crying?" Getting to his feet.

"Well, I don't know if it's a he, but yes..." She followed him out of the office, confused. "Josh?"

"I'll be right back." He called over his shoulder.

Donna watched him disappear down the corridor before retaking her seat behind her desk, rolling her eyes at her boss' strange behaviour that was becoming quite common lately.

As soon as Jackson saw Josh, he tried to free himself from Tina and run to him, but she kept hold of him. He was grateful that she did, noticing the unsure looks they were getting from the guards. Although he couldn't help but smile that Jackson wanted to run to him.

As soon as he reached them, Jackson launched himself at him and Josh automatically picked him up.

"Hey, what's up?" He asked, concerned when Jackson buried his face in his shoulder, still crying.

"I'm sorry..." Tina sighed. "I tried to get hold of Leanne but I couldn't..."

"It's fine." He told her, more worried about his son. "What happened?" 

"He was sick..."

"Sick?" He repeated.

"Only a little, I don't think it's anything to worry about." She assured him quickly. "But he's quite upset and I couldn't settle him."

Josh leaned back a little to look at Jackson, placing his hand on his forehead.

"Josh, relax, kids get sick." She stated. "I just came by to see if you knew how I can get in touch with Leanne. He'll be fine but he's upset..."

"It's okay, I'll take him."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I'll call Leanne and get her to come by here to pick him up, until then he can hang out with me."

"You're not busy or anything?"

"Sure I am." He grinned at her. "But it'll be fine."

"Well, if you're certain."

"Yeah, thanks for today. We appreciate it."

She smiled, reaching out and ran a hand through Jackson's hair. "Well feel better soon, Kiddo."

As she disappeared from sight, he looked back down at Jackson.

"So, you don't feel so good?" He asked.

Jackson shook his head. "Can I stay with you?" 

"Yeah, until your Mom gets here." Josh assured him. "But it means I've got a lot of explaining to do."

He looked up at him for the first time since being picked up. "Are you in trouble?" 

"No, well…Not really."

"Because whenever I do something bad, before I get told off... Mommy always says 'you got a lot of explaining to do'... Is it like that?"

Josh couldn't help but laugh. "Kind of."

"Oh...Well, I always say sorry and then give Mommy a kiss." He told him.

"Does that work?"

"Yep."

"Hmm." Wondering who that would work best on, Toby or C.J. Shaking his head, trying to get the image of their reactions out of his mind. "Come on, let's go meet some new people."

"Okay."

"You wanna walk?" He asked, moving to set him back on the floor but he just tightened his hold on him.

"No, I'm okay."

Josh smiled slightly and headed back for the West Wing, trying to ignore the curious looks he was getting. He didn't care; his son would rather be carried by him then walk on his own. He saw that as a good sign for their relationship, hoping the next step would be for him to stop calling him Josh and start calling him Dad instead.

Donna stared at him as he walked past her desk and into his own office.

"Josh?" She got up and followed him.

"Hey." He turned to face her.

"Josh... You um... You're...You've got a child in your arms." She stared at them both from the doorway.

"Yeah."

"Does his mother know you've got him?"

"No, I should probably call her..." He sat down at his desk, picking up his phone as Jackson started playing with his tie.

"Josh?!" Her eyes widened.

He looked over at her, suddenly remembering that she didn't know anything about this. He placed the phone back down, sighing and rubbing his eyes before standing up and walking over to her again.

"Okay, Jackson...This is my friend, Donna Moss." He turned him a little in his arms so he was facing her. "Donna, this is Jackson Joshua Lyman."

She looked at Jackson and then to Josh quickly. "Lyman?"

"This is my son."

"You're… You have a..." She stuttered.

"Donna..." He started as Jackson buried his face in his chest again and he automatically tightened his arms around him, protectively. "It's a long story, which I don't really have time to get into right now..."

"Okay, okay." She held up her hand. "Do you need anything?"

"I dunno...Can you get a juice for him or something?" He asked.

"Yeah." She nodded, but didn't move and continued to stare at the little boy that looked so much like Josh.

"Donna?" He gestured to the door.

"Oh right, yeah." She stuttered before turning and leaving the office.

"How you doing, Kid?"

"Can we go home?" Jackson asked.

"Not right now, but your Mom will come by soon and take you home."

"Are you coming?"

"I've got to stay here for a bit and work." Josh replied, picking up the phone again and calling Leanne to tell her what was going on.

Just as he hung up, his door open and Sam walked in.

"Have you seen Toby?" He started but stopped when saw Jackson. "Well, I can see this is shaping up to be an interesting day."

"He got sick and the babysitter brought him here. Leanne's on her way over." Josh explained.

"It's going to be a conversation starter."

"Yeah, it already has been with Donna." Josh got up, placing Jackson on the floor. "You remember my friend, Sam?"

"Yeah, he brought the pizza and played the horsey game with me." He replied, just as Donna walked back into the room.

"The horsey game?" She repeated, looking at Sam. "That sounds fun."

"Except I was the horse."

"My Mommy showed me how to brush him!" Jackson exclaimed, turning to face Donna. "And then we fed him carrots and sugar cubes!"

Donna covered her mouth, trying not to laugh.

"Mallory took pictures." Josh told her.

"Thank you, because me on my hands and knees with a pillow strapped to my back as a pretend saddle, is just the photo that I want to be past around." Sam shot Josh a look.

"Oh, God, I've got to see them now!" Donna laughed loudly.

"Great, just great." He threw his hands up in the air.

"Relax, it's not like we're going to hand them out to the press or anything..." Josh started; taking the juice that Donna had brought back and handed it to Jackson before picking him up and sitting him on his desk. "Unless..."

Sam pointed at him. "Don't even think about it!"

"What's it worth?"

"Josh..."

"I'm kidding..." He assured. "Besides, I'm going to need your help."

Sam looked at him unsure for a moment. "With what?" 

"You have to stop C.J and Toby from killing me."

"Well, telling them sooner rather then later will actually help you, you know."

"I'm going to tell now."

"You said that earlier."

"But Jackson's here... There's probably going to be some questions."

"Maybe one or two."

"Am I in trouble?" Jackson asked quietly, causing Josh to quickly turn his attention to him.

"No, buddy...Of course not." He assured him.

"Are you in trouble?"

Josh smiled. "Everything is fine."

Jackson didn't need a lot of convincing and turned to Sam. "Can we play the horsey game again?"

"Umm..."

Josh smiled, glad that Jackson had got over his shyness around his best friend so quickly. Knowing it probably had something to do with ice cream, Sam had sneaked him after the pizza when he thought Leanne and him weren't looking.

"Okay, Jack, you stay here with Sam and Donna. I'll be right back."

"Where you going?"

"I have to go talk to someone..." 

"Can I come?"

"I thought you wanted to play the horsey game with Sam."

Sam shot Josh a glare as he made his way out of the office.

"If you're making me talk to Toby and C.J then you're going to be my son's horse for a while." Josh whispered as he passed him.

Sam sighed and looked down to see Jackson grinning up at him. He placed his hands on his hips. "Okay, fine but this horsey doesn't like carrots." 

"Okay." Jackson shrugged grinning wider as Sam knelt down on the floor.

**TBC**

**Please review and let me know what you think!!! **


End file.
